When Akiha finds a prime subject for his photography, he’s quite a persistent at trying to get them to accept. He has expressed he’d really like to do a gig consisting Mizuki, Izumi, Nakatsu and Minami altogether. To his credit, his efforts has paid off since the three of them eventually agreed to do so (while Izumi begrudgingly agreed because somebody has to keep an eye on Mizuki).
The photo-shoot was a fun one, but is was yet another instance of Mizuki’s lack of self-preservation. Well, at this point it comes as absolutely no surprise but still as exasperating as ever with how thoughtless she is. Mizuki goes to the photographer’s exhibit, which is a collection of nude photographs, learns from his peers (now ex-wife, Ebi) how he’s really good at seeing and pulling out a person’s true essence– something you could liken as a freaking flashing neon sign of: WARNING RISK OF EXPOSURE! Hell even Ebi had seen through Mizuki as a girl, and applied her make-up as such. It was only after the stylist had pointed out she was a “boy” that Ebi redid it. But even then I’m like, the cat’s out of the bag at this point! Or you’d think!
And this continues into episode 9, where Mizuki’s completely overlooking the risks of being a model for a high profile photographer like Ahiha. She’s too caught up with being smitten by his works, to the point she even went out to buy his photobook collection, wich that included even more nude photography! So she’s excited about the opportunity to be a subject of his work. But here’s the problem: Accepting the offer absolutely jeopardizes her disguise as a boy. It’s going to attract a lot of attention onto her, and what she really needs to be doing is laying low on the radar– especially with how the school LOVES to gossip and rumours go haywire, and there’s still the likes of the problematic teacher looking to nitpick students over the slightest things. This whole thing is a recipe for trouble.
At this point we all know and have to accept that Mizuki quite frankly stupid and incapable of thinking things through properly. But it’s so freaking frustrating to see that despite everything she has been through up to this point, that she has learned nothing. Hell, you would think she’d think twice about going for a ride in Akiha’s car after what had transpired last time. And don’t even get me started on she has received warnings from Hokuto in particular that getting involved with him will cause her problems, and she’s best to not get caught up in his works. And for all the time she had been trying to figure out whether or not Izumi’s onto her, today was the most obvious and yet she STILL couldn’t connect the dots as to why Izumi does not support the idea of her being a model. So I guess that has completely slipped her mind altogether. It an understatement to say it’s quite infuriating how Both Hokuto’s warnings (who knows the guy well) and Izumi’s refusal to support her being a model are going right over her head.
Besides the risk assessment, Mizuki also needs to really sit down and reflect on her priorities here. Does she want to move forward and potentially begin trekking onto a path as a model? Or does she want to protect her time with Izumi by maintaining her disguise? Actually does she even have a timeline? Was she actually planning to graduate with him? Who am I kidding, she probably hasn’t even thought about that and just winging it as she goes, but I digress.
The point is: Regardless what happens, one way or another this modelling gig is very likely going to either royally blow up in her face, or be the main contributing catalyst for it. I’d be honestly surprised if it isn’t the tipping point leading to the unravelling of her undercover stunt. And I genuinely feel bad for Izumi feeling like he has to babysit this reckless girl because he loves her. He not only cares about her safety, but he’s also trying his hardest to help her hide her secret. And for someone who had fallen in love with his high-jumping performance, Mizuki’s lack of consideration and awareness of how much time he’s giving up for rest and practice is really stunning. One would think it’d make more sense for her to encourage him to be focusing on that instead of the whole modelling gig! And besides the whole time waster, it’s also incredibly distracting for him. He can’t focus on his training either. Frankly it’s a real mess for him.
Actually speaking of which, I’m honestly surprised Nakatsu was down for it too. Sure it’s fun for the short-term, but what happened to focusing on soccer? Suddenly that became an after-thought too. Really the only guy here that doesn’t have anything else going on is Minami.
Apart from that disaster in the makings, Akiha had treated both Izumi and Mizuki to a special treat of photographs consisting each other. I thought it was especially funny how Mizuki was so relieved that she wasn’t the only one who thought Izumi was incredibly sexy in his photographs. Jokes on her though, she has already exposed her true thoughts last week with the way she was climbing and clinging onto him, going on about how “hot” he was! Both of them also have the same one of a shared shot of the two of them together, and it’s lovely. It was funny though how Mizuki really felt like her feelings for Izumi would be obvious if had seen the picture (and yes, he did). But funny enough, he didn’t really think that deeply. Instead, similarly to how she looked at it, he was studying the kind of expression he makes whenever he’s around her.
At this point, both Izumi and Mizuki are completely head over heels for each other, but now it’s just a matter of who’s going to confess first. Izumi’s not entirely sure how Mizuki feels about him, but perhaps he had a gotten a decent clue that she’s reciprocating his feelings romantically with the fact she’s dreaming of holding him. The main issue right now though is that Izumi’s finding himself struggling to suppress and conceal his feelings towards Mizuki. Akiha completely called him out by handing him that special photo collection from the shoot.
But man, poor Izumi, Mizuki REALLY was testing his patience at the end of episode 8. The poor guy resorted to sleeping on the floor knowing he just couldn’t sleep in the same bed as her this time. It was ESPECIALLY impossible when he realized she has been dreaming of him! He had every right to be feeling salty and frustrated the next morning, because Mizuki’s lack of self-preservation is putting him to his wits ends and is pushing it too far with testing his patience. I mean the girl was even crawling on him in her sleep! Of course he had to get away!
Speaking of romance, we got confirmation (though obvious from the get go) that Akiha swings both ways, as he has shown attraction to Hokuto as well. (Heck, even groped and stole a kiss from him.) Ebi shared a bit of why her marriage with Akiha didn’t work out in the end. The two still truly love each other, which is why they are able to continue being friends and colleagues. She fell in love with him because he saw her for who she is inside, and that’s also primarily why his photography is so good. But the reason why they ultimately divorced was because Ebi realized she was never going to be able to fill the gaping hole in Akiha’s heart. As seemingly open as he is to others, he’s actually quite closed off. (The only bit he has revealed about himself to others is the bit about how his mother had abandoned him and his father when he was little, and seeing how she refused to acknowledge his existence made him suicidal- to which both Ebi and Mizuki gave him a hefty smack for it.) Ebi likened it to realizing their hearts’ signals were not aligned, and it would be better for both of them to just break up. While that’s a sad and heavy outcome, it was undoubtedly the healthier resolution that has contributed to preserving their bond after-the fact.
Next week, more photoshoots! Depending on how the episode goes, might be another week where I’ll wait to do a double-post for it!
