Three years after Kurose Maria turned Ryuuto down, she’s not only back in his school, but she’s his seat neighbor again. In a testament to how little he values himself, he assumed she wouldn’t remember him, but she does. After school, Nicole takes Ryuuto to a fast food joint to inform him Runa’s birthday is coming up. Stating that he wants to surprise her like she did with the phone case, he asks Nicole what would make Runa happiest.
While Nicole’s demeanor towards Ryuuto is all hard edges, she’s not hell-bent on shutting this relationship down, which speaks to her love and trust in Runa, despite her history with men. Ryuuto seems to want the same thing she does—to make Runa happy—and that makes them allies.
The Friday before her birthday, Runa surprises Ryuuto by meeting him at the station, and shows him a text exchange between her friends about Nicole going on a date with him. Ryuuto starts by asking Runa out for her birthday, then explains that that was what his meeting with Nicole was about.
The resulting birthday date is a smash, thanks to Nicole knowing Runa like the back of her pristinely manicured hand. When their first stop is a boba tea spot, Ryuuto shows her the map of all the places he tested out before their date. While initially sent up into the cosmos by his detailed report, she’s all for a boba tour of the city.
They both have a tremendous amount of fun, have an indirect kiss-by-straw, and even when Ryuuto has only 1000 yen left for her to pick out a birthday gift (I’ll forgive him since he’s so new to dating), the gift Runa wants costs nothing: it’s the detailed map he made with notes on the boba spots.
That gesture, which not only represented her true feelings (no one had ever done so much research on a date for her) but had the bonus effect of helping Ryuuto save face, combines with the fact she actually offered to pay for her boba tea earlier in the date. This is important, because back at school rumors swirl that Runa makes her boyfriends pay, and when they run out of cash she moves on to the next one.
At the same time, Ryuuto and Maria’s desk are suddenly together as she “forgot” her textbook. Maria also takes the opportunity to apologize for rejecting him back in middle school. She admits that she simply didn’t understand dating at the time (Ryuuto was actually ahead of someone in this regard!), but now that she does, she now knows how “special” Ryuuto is. That may be so, but he makes clear he already has a girlfriend…he just won’t tell Maria who.
While in the hall, Ryuuto spots Runa going into an empty classroom with another boy. He proceeds to eavesdrop on their conversation, rather than simply asking her about the conversation later. This is morally dubious, and left a bad taste in my mouth.
However, I’ll let it pass this once because, again, Ryuuto is extremely inexperienced in dating and extremely insecure and lacking in confidence and self-respect. Witnessing Runa not only turn the guy down, but make clear that she’s withholding the identity of her boyfriend because that’s what he wanted, makes Ryuuto rightfully feel bad about doubting her.
That display of Runa being an absolute rockstar of a girlfriend should have taught him lesson about being able to trust her, and he learns that lesson fast when Maria starts spewing those wretched rumors about Runa squeezing her dates for cash.
While Maria says she hasn’t told anyone, she’s considering doing so because Runa is popular and The People need to know how selfish she is, that spells doom for the tip of Ryuuto’s mechanical pencil. He rises from his desk with purpose and declares, loudly and proudly to Maria and in earshot of Runa and eight others, that he is Runa’s boyfriend. To which I say, Good for you, bro!
No matter what Ryuuto says to Maria, her first impression of Runa was based on those nasty false rumors. I imagine she’s not pleased that the boy with whom she wanted to start fresh is dating her. But if a love triangle is the cost of Ryuuto and Runa being public, I’m fine with it. They couldn’t stay secret forever, and that status had run it’s course. Now I’m looking forward to how they navigate what I imagine to be rough seas to come.
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