After Kurumi stops crying she gets angry because Sawako’s been crying along with her, and she demands to know the answer to all sort of questions. Did you tell him you liked him, did he tell you he liked you, are you going out, and so forth.

         Kurumi and Sawako, much to Kurumi’s annoyance, end up talking about Kazehaya’s good points. Even after Kurumi’s behavior, Sawako is happy because Kurumi has acknowledged her as a person, and she’s finally been able to talk with someone about her feelings for Kazehaya.

 

          Well, Kurumi says it’s all over, Kazehaya thinks she likes Pin, and she knows Kazehaya doesn’t have feelings for her. So, why should she care if she exposed or misunderstood? Sawako tries to tell Kurumi to not leave it like that, and she needs to tell Kazehaya. Kurumi basically tells Sawako she’s a fool if she believes that.

        Later, we see Kurumi having a flashback to middle school where we see how she became like she is. Lots of girls wanted to be around Kurumi because she was so cute and the girls felt that they’d be able to meet more guys that way. But, Kurumi’s incisive nature also hurt people around her because she wouldn’t say whether or not she liked a guy, so she ended up getting in the way of the other girls’ love interests. One day, after Kurumi’s overhears some of the girls talking bad behind her back then being nice to her face, she ends up crying in the classroom after school when Kazehaya walks in on her. After Kurumi initially says nothing is wrong Kazehaya leaves the classroom only to return to find Kurumi really bawling her eyes out and from that point on she felt that Kazehaya is the only person who really sees her for who she really is, and she vowed not to tell him what she feels until she knows he likes her.

           Well, Kurumi and Kazehaya run into each other after school and Kazehaya drops the I didn’t know you liked Pin on her, hell no. Kurumi quickly comes to understand that Sawako must have intervened because Kazehaya doesn’t know about her role in the rumors. She asks him about Sawako, what’s she like. She’s easily misunderstood but always truthful no matter the risk, and that’s why Ayane & Yano trust her, and I always believe her when she tells me something.

       Well, as Kazehaya is about to ride off, Kurumi takes Sawako’s advice and tells Kazehaya that she doesn’t like Pin and he’s the one she likes, the one she’s always liked, and she only thinks of him. Kazehaya stops his bike and rushes up to Kurumi and says he’s sorry but he already likes someone else and he can only think about her. She asks him if he’s glad she confessed to him; yes, thank you. Kurumi asks Kazehaya to call her by her first name just once. Kazehaya calls her Ume, and as she’s walking off she says that she miscalculated him, he has bad taste in picking girls, and he’ll never get a cuter one then her. Kazehaya asks were you always like this, and Kurumi just walks off smiling.

       Later, Sawako talks with Ayane and Yano about her feelings for Kazehaya, and about how Kurumi was the catalyst for Sawako coming to terms with her feelings for Kazehaya. The girls think that it’s going to get really interesting from now on.

       When Kurumi shows back up at school Pin sees her and tells her she’ll meet a guy her own age to fall in love with, and that a high school guy would be thinking about her all day long if she confessed to him. Later Kurumi talks to Sawako, Ayane, and Yano and tells Sawako that she’ll never give her blessing to her relationship with Kazehaya. Sawako asks if they’re friends, no way, we’re rivals. As Kurumi is walking off, Yano says that if Kurumi was like that from the beginning she would have liked her better.

        When the sports festival resumes, Sawako’s class loses all their remaining events, but they still end up finishing in a very respectable 6th place. Afterwards, Sawako gets invited to her very first after party. While everyone is having a great time at a karaoke club Sawako continues to talk about Kazehaya with Ayane and Chizu where she tells them that she loves him. When Sawako is taking a break, Kazehaya comes looking for Sawako so Ayane points him in the right direction.

Remember it’s the After Party, Sawako

Stay thirsty Sawako

        When Kazehaya finds Sawako it looks like she’s sleeping on the stairs, at first he calls her by her last name, then halleluiah, he calls to her using her first name. Sawako says yes and Kazehaya thinks she may be sleep talking, but Sawako leans over and puts her head on his shoulder, and thinks to herself that by the time he called me by my first name I was already in love. That’s all folks.

 

       This was a pretty sweet episode for several reasons. First of all, I found myself not hating Kurumi very much, and somewhat understanding how she turned out the way she did. It must have been quite a shock for Kurumi to find out that most of her friends in middle school were just using her for her looks to draw guys to them. But, Kurumi’s nature also contributed to the problem, she seemed like she was the type of girl who in an attempt to please everyone around her never wanted to make a decision, she’d never say yes or no about a guy so I can see why some on the other girls would be angry with her. You could also see that while Kurumi was very popular in school she never had any close friends; I noticed that while all the girls were friendly to her in school she never seemed to get invited to do anything with the other girls after school. I do agree with Yano that the more open and aggressive Kurumi is much more likeable. So I feel that Kurumi might still be as cute as a button, at least she a doll with some substance.

        Pin was very funny in this episode, in his attempt to be funny with Kurumi I think that he actually cheered her up in his own silly way; I’m sure that if you confessed to any high school boy they would be thinking about you all day, I guess that’s as good as it gets from Pin.

       I found it very nice that Kazehaya was finally able to call Sawako by her first name; it’s really funny how he can admit to Kurumi that he’s really got the hots for someone, but all he can manage is to say is “Sawako”. I can understand that he’s shy because Sawako is probably his first serious love/crush, but I find it a stretch that he’s such a nice guy that all he can manage is “Sawako”. When the love bug first hit me all I could think about was how I wanted to talk with her, look at her, touch her, be near her, and kiss her, and I did when the first opportunity arose, hormones always wins over shyness.

       For all of Sawako’s social immaturity and shyness I really found myself cheering with joy when she ended up being the one to make the first move, while Kazehaya finally managed to say “Sawako” it was Sawako who initiated the first skin to skin contact. Now, the ball is in Kazehaya’s court, come on and man up, and kiss her.