Runa is characteristically full speed ahead in establishing her new relationship with Ryuuto by hanging around and talking to him at every opportunity. But old habits die hard, and both the discouraging comments from his friends and dirty looks from other classmates have him feeling anxious.
He’s simply not used to this level of attention, and still isn’t 100% sure his friends aren’t right about Runa simply dating him as a joke. In order to minimize the stares, he asks if they can keep their relationship a secret at school. Runa takes this to mean he wants to see her outside of school, so a date it is!
The prospect of even taking a girl out on a date, let alone someone like Runa, adds to his anxiety as he frantically googles what to do. But when Runa video chats with him, it puts him more at ease. He decides to let her take the lead and do whatever it is she finds fun. Runa’s never been on that kind of date.
That Saturday, Runa takes him up on that, as her idea of a good time is shopping for cute outfits, accessories, cosmetics, and consumables. That said, as the date progresses she asks him if this is even that fun for him, or if he’s bored. But Ryuuto isn’t bored. Watching Runa look so happy makes him happy.
The next day, the day Runa said she’d have plans, his morning text to her goes unread most of the day, and Ryuuto’s anxiety blends with suspicion, paranoia, and possessiveness. He becomes convinced that this is it, and when he gets a text from her asking him to meet her in the park, he believes it’s so she can dump him.
Of course, that doesn’t happen. This is only the second episode! No, she’s just too excited to delay giving him a gift: a limited edition phone case that matches hers. Ryuuto is so touched and relieved that he actually tears up. Runa is surprised it means so much to him, but is also touched.
While they walk, Ryuuto chalks up his awkwardness with girls to the fact he once asked out his desk neighbor Kurose in his first year of middle school. He thought she felt the same way about him, but turns out she only thought of him as a good friend. Tale as old as time!
Runa doesn’t mock Ryuuto’s story; on the contrary, she’s glad he was turned down because it meant they could go out. When Ryuuto says middle school romances don’t last, Runa says her parents met and fell in love in middle school, then married after high school.
When a blue limited edition Toyota Supra zooms by and Runa notes how cool it is, Ryuuto goes off on an extremely rapid-fire and detailed explanation of how sports cars differ from normal cars. But while it’s a lot of information at once, it gets Runa thinking, and also gets her to open up more.
She wonders if she’s like a sports car, rushing forward as fast as she can to catch up to her parents and become an adult. But despite all her experiences, a lasting relationship has eluded her. We also learn her parents eventually divorced, so perhaps she hopes to succeed where they failed?
While Runa compares herself to a sports car as simply a means to an end, Ryuuto tells her that sports cars aren’t just about getting somewhere fast. They’re built to make the drive, the journey itself fun. From what he’s seen, Runa has been making the most of her life and sees no reason why she should change as long as she’s having fun.
With that, she challenges him to a race to the station. He can’t quite keep up with her pace, either then or in general, but he’s slowly getting there, and more importantly, learning more about the person he fell for. I’m also glad we got a scene of Runa talking to Nicole on the phone about how Ryuuto just “feels right”. We’ll see if the sudden transfer of his first crush Kurose Maria to his class throws a wrench in the works!
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