This week Lara was dead set on trying to find her prince. It was quite funny to see Grace chiding her for being glued to the screen, though Lara fairly argues that she’s trying to learn more about the world. Mari was also busy with preparing for her exams, and Lara still didn’t feel comfortable enough to go out on her own. But eventually after all the pestering Mari begrudgingly agreed to take her– under the condition she stayed put in the club room. Even with the threat of losing television privilege, we all knew that there was no way Lara was going to stay put. Hilariously, she did find a loophole in that rule where she did not cross the line Mari had put out to her (by the door), as when she did leave the club room, she had climbed through the freaking window!
At the very least Lara wasn’t alone when she made her great escape. She had left when Mari’s brother Yoshihiro had offered to help her find her a boyfriend. The two found each other when Lara noticed he was on the bench skipping exams since he claims he’s never going to leave Shiga anyways. In other words, he doesn’t really plan on post-education, much less graduating it seems. He was caught off guard and utterly charmed when Lara told him that conviction was admirable. He was so smitten by her, that he closed his legs so he wasn’t manspreading, hahaha! It was even sweeter when he heard Lara was looking for her Prince, to which he thought she meant boyfriend (well, I guess it’s the same thing hahahahaha), and excitedly offered to help introduce her to some guys at their school.
Though when Yoshihiro said that, I had actually thought he’d actually go around to introduce some nice guys he knows or maybe friends with to Lara. But instead he actually went to some girls in his class for suggestions. I was cracking up a lot when he was basically doing a not-so-subtle, wink wink“I don’t mind if it’s me” (aka: “Please recommend me!”)! What a silly boy! But the conversation was an interesting one, because the question about “prince” at their school wasn’t one any of them could answer. Not to mention, the term “prince” is also not limited to the association of love, but is also someone admires or idolizes. That was the case with the girls, who liked V-tubers, Idols, Comedians etc… This group also commented on how they they are happy with just admiring them, and some just don’t want to deal with the risk of cheating and fights. For at least one of them, was more of a hassle so to speak.
It was thanks to the girls bringing up a student named Ouji, that caught Lara’s attention. She took their names a bit too literally with the “Ouji” (Prince) and “Himeka” (Princess), which was a hilarious combination of word play for these two. Thanks to that, she had immediately approached Himeka, and there’s when a new friendship was born.
And for real, Himeka’s a super nice girl. Most people would be totally freaked out or put off with Lara’s nosiness and strange questions about ‘how they met their prince’ and so on forth. But not for Himeka, instead she found Lara very cute and endearing, and was more than happy to indulge her curiosity and questions. Even better that she was quick-witted enough to notice Lara was not a student at their school, but even then she wasn’t bothered by her.
It’s lovely how quickly the two of them hit it off and became friends. Lara knew right off that bat that despite her denial, Himeka was in love with Ouji. It was later when Himeka had seen Ouji blushing with another girl that she realized that their special bond may not be eternal, and it felt like all that time of hiding her feelings to not rock the boat and risk ruining what they have was all in vain. It was after that she confessed the truth to Lara. And having expirenced not being able to say the things she wished he could’ve said sooner, Lara didn’t want Himeka to suffer from regrets in the way she did. So even if the odds were against her, Lara encouraged Himeka to confess anyways.
So Himeka did just that, and you know what, it was the right decision. She was able to at least mentally prepare herself for the rejection because she wanted to protect their familial bond. Ouji may not love her in the way she loves him, but to him she’s like family he cherishes. And now that she was able to get this off her chest, it allows her to not only protect what they have, but also get closure to move on before he actually starts dating someone. After-all, it’d be a lot more awkward and terribly difficult to do if he had someone, to the point Himeka would have to try to bury it in her heart and never get proper closure for it.
Better yet, Lara’s learning through this failures that it’s okay. This love didn’t work out, but as Himeka said best: “He’s not the only prince out there”, and now she can look forward to meeting her new prince. This is good for Lara to know because it renews the hope that while it hurts now, it offers strength and encouragement to persevere in her search for true love.
And finally, I’m glad we got clear confirmation that Lara actually can see the finish dagger hovering in the air! But boy oh boy, that thing just gets more and more ominous considering it looks like it’s sitting even higher than before– which isn’t a good thing. I feel like if that thing plunges in the bay, it’s going to trigger a tsunami. And so the higher up that thing is, the bigger the wave will be.
As for Lisa, Lara didn’t reunite with her today, instead she had her retainer Kota appraoch her in her steed. He informed her that the two of them were the only ones on the surface, alive and well, and gave her the phone so Lisa could speak for the first time in centuries then. However Lisa lied when she said she was far away, because she was actually in the car secretly watching Lara the whole time. It appears she was trying to test her, but more than that, it appears she’s squarely pinning the blame on Grace for bringing Lara to the surface again, and we can tell that she deeply loathes her. Perhaps she blames her even more now since she wasn’t happy to hear that Lara had come back with legs.
But there’s also the question of whether or not Grace had a role of putting them on the surface as well. Lisa said that only she and Kota are the only ones who are on the surface besides Lara, and we don’t know why they were the special exceptions to waking up. There is however, something worth to consider– and it’s something I had missed and only realized after someone mention in the forums last week! Lisa actually has two rings on her finger. One the ring their father had given them, but also a green one. We don’t know what this green one does, but it may perhaps be part of the reason the two of them are there on surface, or even woken up before the other altogether!
