Utage’s new teacher (former assistant) is a fellow E/YES member (fan of F/ACE), her oshi being Natsuki. But who would’ve expected her to be his freaking ex-girlfriend? Needless to say, it was quite funny to see Utage and her teacher gushing about the group together.
As one should expect at this point, Natsuki like his fellow colleagues, is as two-faced as they can get. The puppy-like character Natsuki is plays is nothing anything of the likes of his true self when he’s at his lowest. Take off the mask, and you have a heavy smoker, lazy slob, and done with the world Natsuki. But the guy has it rough at the moment, with deadline looming for their next song, as their songwriter of the group, he has been struggling to find his muse. As such, he’s deeply demoralized. When he’s not drowning in misery and frustration, we can see he does (like Keito) have a softer side, and he shows this much to Tamon when he had expressed his concern about him. He praised him for his mindset changing for the better.
That’s where Asuka comes into the picture. She and Natsuki go way back to when he was a middle school student and she was a high-school student. They met and got to know each other when he’d sing on the street to make some cash. Before long it became a routine where she’d swing by and deliver him snacks from her parent’s takoyaki shop, where they’d make him cheese takoyaki. And then when it came to the point where Natsuki was wondering what to do after middle school, and that was when Asuka’s family stepped in and not only suggested he work with them, but they also gave him a roof over his head. He and Asuka were both working towards their dreams, for Asuka is was becoming a Judo Athlete, and Natsuki auditioning to become a singer. Eventually they started dating, but tragically that came to an end when his drunkard gambling addict father found him one day, and tried to rob him of the money he had earned. Asuka went to protect him, but in the end, she was shoved down the stairs and ended up hospitalized with a broken leg. After that, that was when things went down the gutter.
And it’s such a sad situation for Natsuki. Because of the way his father injured Asuka, he felt too guilty to attend his audition let alone stay with her family after she had her breakdown. They had offered him protection and a sanctuary and his father comes along and ruined it complete. Asuka obviously wanted him to at least audition, so even though she couldn’t compete, she’d be able to cheer him on, but I understand why Natsuki didn’t go to the audition at the time. It’s as he says, how could he in this situation? It was his father that knocked her down the stairs all because she had tried to protect him. But at the same time also understand why Asuka got upset. One she felt like she took away his opportunity by getting injured, and two, even if she couldn’t, she wanted to see Natsuki get as far as he could in the auditions. Unfortunately since he chose not to, and she was not in the mental capacity to process his own grief and guilt at the time, she lashed out at him in a way that prompted him to disappear from her and her family’s lives.
And it’s sad because Asuka’s family had become his family. Natsuki’s parents never cared for him, he was out sleeping on friends’ couches or in cafes in middle school, or worst just plain out on the street. He relied on singing to make a bit of cash for some food and a temporary place of warmth. So when Asuka came along to give him snacks because she was a fan of his singing, the two hit it off as friends, her family then offered him the opportunity to work at their shop, and then the two of them started dating. Things looked as though Natsuki had finally found his happily ever after, and then his father’s untimely appearance just spoiled it all.
So I must commend Tamon for really coming out of his shell in effort to help Natsuki. In the beginning, we could tell that F/ACE hardly had any relationship with each other. Keito did his part of trying to keep the group out of trouble, so was the strict mom of the unit. He’s being a lot of proactive of trying to help his fellow unit members, similarly to how Utage had helped him. For that reason, it is endearing to see both Keito and now Natsuki showing a soft spot for Tamon, as they are the two eldest members of the group. I’m happy that they were able to come up with a way for Asuka to send Natsuki a morale boost, and that was by Tamon getting her fan account name so Natsuki could look over it. They knew he’d notice it was hers right away, and that he did.
Hahaha but what crazy timing, for F/ACE to end up coming to Utage’s and Asuka’s school to do some filming. I loved the way Natsuki just nonchalantly dropped the news, realized he broke the NDA, and then shrugged it off. At least that did give Utage time to somewhat mentally prepare herself. She probably would’ve lost it at school if she had.
Apart from that, we did get to see Utage is trying to grapple with her own feelings, especially since she does know that she likes him. She’s just justifiably worried about crossing that line. So she tries to keep her mouth shut how about she truly feelings, but Tamon wants to hear her true thoughts. Though, speaking of which, the part when Hottiehara came out after getting hosed by water had me hollering from laughter because, MY GOD, DID THEY SWITCH IT UP TO ASMR SOUND FOR THAT MOMENT?! I’M WHEEZING! The directing for this show is too good!
That said, it is good that Tamon does have self-awareness of realizing that he has a bad habit of being too pushy. (Unfortunately it’s not something that’s going to be fixed overnight…) He knows he overdid it again, which is why he apologized and properly explained it’s because Utage is really the only one he’s close to, that he wants to get to know her better.
As for Ouri… it was hilarious to see him submit his own question about his crush on Utage in their advice program with Natsuki as host. Unfortunately it’s clear as day that this love of his is just not going to bloom. Poor guy.
