The Ramparts of Ice Episode 5

I’m quite glad we got to see Minato’s point of view when the conversation went south between him and Koyuki. It offered a lot of (reassuring) insight about his intentions and (belated) self-reflection as he struggled to dig himself out of the hole he made.

For Minato, he has always thought he was a likeable guy who gets along with others easy, but after the way Koyuki had shut him down, he realized his way of thinking was quite arrogant. He went in that morning just hoping to break the ice with Koyuki, but quickly discovered that Igarashi’s name was actually a landmine. While he did speak with Igarashi, it turns out that the guy didn’t divulge any information about his relationship with Koyuki in middle school. In-fact he brushed her off as a stranger he never heard of. So naturally it was impossible for Minato to know just mentioning Igarashi was going to be a potential landmine to begin with. Had he known, then he would have steered clear of the topic altogether.

Another tip off that he had missed the timing on, was connecting the dots that Koyuki was the friend Miki and spoken to him and Youta about in the past. As it turns out, Youta and Minato had learned Koyuki being bullied second-hand via Miki during middle school. She didn’t share Koyuki’s name, but she did open up about the pain and frustration of discovering her friend was being bullied under her nose the entire time, and felt heartbroken at the possibility that Koyuki didn’t trust her enough to tell her about it.

But it wasn’t until this week’s episode that the boys realized she was the friend Miki was referring to at the time. Youta connected the dots when Koyuki brought up once being in the basketball club, and Minato only realized it when he noticed how distressed she looked when he brought up Igarashi’s name. Yet the same time, this is where things get super confusing for Minato. Igarashi told him he doesn’t know of Koyuki, and then now Koyuki had just told him that she and Igarashi do have history, but their relationship isn’t what it used to be. He has mixed information he needs to sort out as soon as possible, ideally through Miki so he can avoid accidentally stepping on any more landmines.

Although Minato got hurt as result of it, I do think it was really important for him to get that wake-up call. He finally came to terms that he was being far too nosy and arrogant. We did see in at the beginning of Koyuki’s apology that the things he was saying to her in return weren’t fully sincere. There was a part of him that expressed annoyance and resentment that he had to console her while he has been upset all day about it. He is a sensitive guy after-all. But that frustration was quickly silenced when Koyuki was unable to hold her tears back after struggling so hard to apologize to him. It was really then he realized just how overwhelmed she was about the whole thing, that he realized how earnest she was in trying to apologize to him.

At the very least, Minato can be a lot more mindful about what he chooses to bring up to her. But now he’s stumped because he doesn’t know what they share in common, and was worried things will be awkward between them. Fortunately as embarrassed as Koyuki is for having cried while apologizing to him, has shown she’s going to give him a fair chance for them to get to know each other. It’s a welcomed progress that she’s able to exchange giggles and talk to him instead of avoiding him as she has been. For a guy who went from feeling bitter for being left out of the friend’s circle (which is a very human response), jealous of Youta being referred to on the first name basis, now he’s a flustered mess because he wasn’t actually expecting her to talk to him after all of that.

With that said, it goes without saying: The MVP of this week’s episode goes to Youta! He ended up playing a vital role in clearing up the misunderstanding that unfolded between Koyuki and Minato. Since he saw what had transpired, he took it upon himself to seek Koyuki out and explain everything to her. From Minato failing to understand personal space and has a bad habit of being overbearing, and assuring he’s not a bad guy, to revealing he and Minato both know about her story of being bullied in middle school via Miki. (Though the only part Youta got wrong was that Minato only connected the dots that middle school was a sensitive topic no sooner than today.)

It was thanks to that meaningful intervention that helped Koyuki realize she had been projecting her fear and worst assumptions of character onto Minato. By doing so, she had never given him a fair shot of befriending him like she has with Youta. This kind of clarity was very helpful to prompting her to muster up the courage to apologize to Minato, because she really did feel bad for the way she had lashed out at him. She hated the fact she said those words with the full intent to make it hurt as much as possible. So it’s really good that this was able to be resolved within the day of the incident, as opposed to being dragged out. And now that it’s winter break, hopefully it will present an opportunity for them to get to know each other better so nobody feels like they have to walk on egg-shells when they come back from their break!

And finally, after being absent for almost the entire episode, Miki finally makes an appearance in the post-credits when she and Koyuki were meeting up with some friends (Miharu and Sora) from middle school. (It was also fun to see You and I Are Polar Opposites Miyu and her friends making a cameo appearance there too! I’m glad I started watching it right away, but I digress). Their chat largely revolved around dating and potential crushes, which served an eye opener for a couple of things.

First it Miki apparently dated a lot of boys in middle school, but she never had any luck of maintaining those relationships because they break up claiming she’s not who they thought she’d be like. So now Miki’s determined to be the one to ask someone out instead of the other way around. She also claims she doesn’t have a crush on anyone, which left Koyuki surprised because right now she thinks Miki likes Minato.

As for Koyuki herself, she has zero interest in dating anyone and feels like she’s just not cut out for relationships. But the curious thing that was brought up at the end of the episode was when Miharu and Sora were pondering out loud about why did Koyuki even dated Igarashi in the first place when she had apparently hated his guts? Now that’s a piece of unexpected information that makes this whole mess even more complicated than it already is. And if that’s not enough, it Miki feels like she’s the one to blame for it! This mess is proving to be a lot more complicated than just the case of being bullied…