Disheartened by Shizuku’s apparent rejection of him, Haru is encouraged not to give up by Oshima and Natsume. School Culture Festival preparations begin, and Haru gives Shizuku tickets. More distant from him, Shizuku’s exam rankings rise. She tells herself she’s doing the right thing. But when Haru bumps into her at night, vows to change her mind, and almost kisses her (stopping himself after remembering Natsume’s advice) all the feelings come roaring back to her.
These past two weeks Shizuku has voiced her intention to purge elements unnecessary to her, which she tries to convince herself is a group that includes Haru. But he isn’t taking no for an answer, even when she says no outright (as in there’s no chance of her falling for him again). Shizuku’s suffering that classic case of Mind vs. Heart, in which the two do not see eye to eye.She’s learns the hard way that “purging” feelings for someone isn’t the same as “burying” them. She’s simply done the latter, and Haru doesn’t need to do much digging to bring them back up. He’s driven by his departed aunt/guardian’s words that humans will wither if left alone, and her belief he’ll one day find someone “whose presence is strong enough to soothe his pain”.
Right now Haru thinks that someone is Shizuku (Oshima doesn’t register to him as anything other than a friendly acquaintance, much to Oshima’s frustration). Yamaken tells Shizuku her relentless pursuit of grades above all else is a “boring way to live”, and she can’t deny that, because her heart is telling her the same thing as her mind is trying desperately to keeping her on a path of monastic study. The second half of this series will continue to explore that inner conflict, but we have no clue which part of Shizuku will ultimately win out. Haru will be on Team Heart; he’s listening to his, which is telling him Shizuku is the one…even if she says otherwise.
Rating: 8 (Great)
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