Loving Yamada at Lv999 – 13 (Fin) – If the Shoe Fits

Tsubaki Yukari has been watching Yamada for years. She’s able to provide a detailed list of little reasons she likes him. But she’s also seen the change Akane made in him, well before spotting the little permanent marker doodle on his hand (Akane literally marking her man).

Because she knows Yamada so well, she knows two things out of the gate: he’s going to reject her, but he’s going to be as decent and kind and gentle as possible in doing so. When Tsubaki has said everything she wants to say and receives that gentle rejection, it’s like a lead weight off her shoulders.

It still hurts—her heart is broken now—but she’ll be okay, and she’s much better off than she was, pretending not to love someone she loved. She also has no hard feelings for Akane, whom she knows to be a person both worthy of and good for Yamada.

This entire scene is so packed with emotions and gorgeous visuals. Even in heartbreak, Tsubaki has never looked so beautiful, because she’s allowing her love to rise to the surface; her tears cathartically scattering into tiny droplets in the cool night air.

The next evening, Kamota treats his guildmates to a lavish dinner at a fancy-ass yakiniku restaurant. Everyone is in awe of just how many movers and shakers are deferent to Kamota, and how he treats them all no differently than his guildmates. Kamota is just a Good Guy, and we’d all be better off with people like him in our lives.

Whatever Kamota did for these folks in the past, they feel compelled to provide small tokens of their appreciation for it, as they have attendants bring sake, meat and melon to the table. I’m reminded of how Akane assigns a great deal of her value on what she can materially bring to a relationship.

But while transactions of this type are necessary, they are not what is essential. Why else would Kamota treat everyone the same no matter their age or status? He would most definitely had not minded if his acquaintances had not provided him with tributes for the table, either. Friendships can be their own reward. The only “give and take” is spending time together and having fun.

Yamada is late to the dinner, and by the time he arrives, Kamota made the mistake of leaving Akane alone with the fancy sake too long, and she’s full-on wobbly hiccup-y drunk. This is nothing new to Yamada; the first time they went out she got this way and he had to bring her home to sleep it off. He doesn’t mind it this time either, because we know he likes her.

There’s no standard she had to meet for that other than being who she is. And as drunk as she is, Akane is lucid enough to notice the way Yamada takes her hand throughout the night, gently guiding her home through all the other drunks of the night.

That aura of comfort and safety pervades their journey, even when Akane manages to get her heel really stuck in a crack in the sidewalk. It’s a callback to the first time they met, when her shoe just plain fell off.

It again places Yamada in a Prince Charming position with Akane as her Cinderella. They share a lovely little beat when he’s gazing up at her and she’s gazing down on him and they feel very close and right.

When they reach the door to her apartment and Yamada bids Akane good night, she grabs the corner of his coat. Perhaps in part due to the fact she’s drunk and thus less inhibited, but also because of the way he was holding her hand, but she comes right out and asks Yamada if he likes her.

Yamada cracks his biggest, most playful grin of the season, and says he’s “busted.” When Akane worries that this is just some kind of dream, or she’ll forget what he told her when she wakes up in the morning, he makes it clear: “I like you.” If she forgets, that’s okay; he’ll tell her again tomorrow.

In the end, it wasn’t solely a matter of when and how she’d make clear to Yamada that she liked him, but her realizing that for a while now he’s liked her, but just hasn’t been overt about it. Now that the air is cleared and they know where they stand, they can move forward, either hand-in-hand or, as they end the evening, in each others’ arms.

Back in class, Akane is understandably hung over, but lets her friends know she now has a boyfriend (again). The mood is celebratory, and for her part Momo is not surprised, as she could “smell” that they’d eventually end up a couple. When Akane asks if it looked like she was “throwing herself” at Yamada, Momo says it was the opposite.

While at a café together, perhaps for the first time as an “official” couple, Yamada seems distracted while Akane is talking. He admits he was distracted by Akane’s canines being sharper than usual and also cute. While walking her home, he notices there’s something she wants to say. She takes a breath and says she wants to hold hands when they’re walking.

The point is, Akane is gradually getting to the point where she feels it’s okay to ask for things, just for her, without it having to be transactional. Nor does she have to worry about what kind of girlfriend she should be, whether it’s mature and independent or needy and spoiled.

She can be all or none of those at different times. Because in Yamada she has a kind, understanding, and patient partner…even if he doesn’t get the point of heels. I have the feeling these two are going to be just fine!