Skip and Loafer – 12 (Fin) – A Glorious Part of Our Youths

When Ririka starts to unload on Sousuke’s mom, Mitsumi feels like a mouse who finds herself to close to some kind of wild cat. Clearly Ririka is harboring some hardcore resentment towards Sousuke’s mom as barb in about her making her son act for her again.

When they meet up with Sousuke, Ririka makes sure all the NPCs around her know that Sousuke used to be a professional child actor, making him uncomfortable and causing his mom to make a polite but quick getaway. When Ririka turns on Sousuke himself, Mitsumi instinctively gets between them…and tries to make herself as big as possible!

This makes Sousuke smile and laugh in a way Ririka has told him he doesn’t deserve to, because Mitsumi is unwittingly emulating the practice of the lesser anteater, as he read in the biology club’s publication with Keiri. Ririka heads off to get a seat at Sousuke’s play.

As he awaits his final scene, Sousuke is lost in thought, pondering if it’s okay to act if it’s for himself, not just to make his mom happy but for his own happiness. He also realizes he didn’t speak to Kanechika-senpai after his play on purpose, because he was envious.

Sousuke forgets his last few lines, but it doesn’t matter, as his nonverbal acting is enough to evoke a positive crowd response. After the play Sousuke comes right down to it and asks Ririka if she’ll let him have a high school life, even if he can’t make up for what happened.

Ririka hears “Forgive me, I want to be happy”, which is the gist. She fires her hat at him, ignoring the fact she’s a celebrity out in public, and tells him to do what he pleases. When he thanks her, she flips him off. On the taxi ride home, Ririka is sobbing, but at least understands that what happened wasn’t all Sousuke’s fault back then.

Ririka is upset that because of what happened, regardless of blame, he’s always looked like he’d rather be anywhere then with her, and that it’s “easier” to be with girls who “know nothing.” I for one was glad for this scene that finally showed Ririka drop her armor.

Another one crying bitter tears is Takamine as the festival ends. She’d dreamt of being student council president, but Kazakami beat her in a free, fair election. Kazakami apologizes for crushing Takamine’s dream, but won’t apologize for wanting to do something with his high school life after his soccer injury.

Kazakami tells Takamine (who didn’t ask) about how strict his family is and how high their expectations are for him. No doubt they were disappointed when he hurt his knee, but he’s still expected to get into Tokyo U like everyone else in the family. In a sweet gesture of consolation, he gives Takamine the beautiful bouquet he was given earlier.

As the festival comes to a close, Mitsumi meets with her friends for a hot minute for a cold drink and the promise of a study sleepover soon. It’s so heartwarming to see how close and comfortable these four ladies have become in such a short time.

The rest of the class is headed to a restaurant to fill their bellies after all their hard work, but Mitsumi has to stay behind for a staff meeting. Sousuke breaks off from the group to come back to Mitsumi and ask if he can help with anything; he’s happy to do so.

Mitsumi says no, it’s fine, it’s just a meeting, and he should go off and have fun. As she skips down the hall, Sousuke calls out her name one more time, and for a moment, I thought he was going to confess! I imagine Mitsumi might’ve felt something like that too. It doesn’t happen, which is fine.

The episode, and indeed the season, ends with everyone in a good place. Hopefully there’s a second season, because I could always use more Mitsumi, Sousuke, Mika, Yuzuki, and Makoto in my life.