The Apothecary Diaries – 23 – The Undefeated Courtesan

Maomao, whose face Lakan can see clearly, has a plan to get her father to make things right. She challenges him to a best-of-five chess match, with the winner of each game choosing one of five cups containing “medicine” for the loser to drink in one gulp. Three of the cups contain a poison, and if all three are drunk by one person the poison becomes deadly.

As Jinshi, who promises not to interfere, watches, it becomes clear Maomao is no match for her father in chess, losing the first two games and drinking from two of the five cups. Lakan lets her win the third game, not willing to risk his daughter poisoning herself if the previous two cups she drank were poison.

Maomao doesn’t just use her dad’s paternal protectiveness against him, but his teetotalism as well. When he drinks one of the remaining three cups, he notes the awful taste, which Jinshi believes confirms that it contains poison, since Maomao said the poison affects the taste. But then Lakan turns red, then green, then passes out.

Turns out the “medicine” is very strong alcoholic spirits. Maomao can hold her liquor, but one drink is enough to knock out her father, who has abstained from alcohol as long as Jinshi has known him. And because she got him to agree that one player could not continue the match, he loses, and so rather than her moving in with him, he must buy out a certain aging Verdigris courtesan

We go back in time to Lakan’s circumstances. Turns out the guy doesn’t just “see” everyone as chess or go pieces because he’s a strategist with no other interest in them, but because he has literal clinical face blindness, which cost him his position as his father’s heir in his well-to-do family.

His uncle, who by the sound of his voice is Maomao’s adoptive father, taught Lakan how to discern people not by face, but by other qualities, and his interest in go and chess led to him seeing faces as those game pieces. The first person whose actual face he saw was that of Fengxian, the Verdigris courtesan renowned for her prowess in the games he loved.

Lakan would visit Fengxian to play as often as he could, which became less and less frequent as the price for her time kept rising due to demand from numerous wealthy customers. Fengxian was clearly frustrated she couldn’t see him more, and one day in the middle of a go game, her exquisitely manicured fingers reached out to meet his own.

Their hands clasp, and the next thing you know, they’re making love. Lakan makes clear that neither had sweet or honeyed words for one another, nor did they ask for or need them; it’s just the way the two of them were, as kindred spirits who were able to find pride, comfort, and love through the games they played together.

Then, suddenly, things took a turn. Lakan’s uncle was exiled from the palace and Lakan was sent abroad by his father. He and Fengxian exchanged letters for a time, but a couple of months turned into three years, and by the time he was allowed to return, everything had gone to shit.

Not only had her buyout agreement fallen through, but she had become forced to walk the streets plying her carnal trade, having lost all value to him making her pregnant (with Maomao). That far riskier line of work led to her contracting the wasting disease that has eaten away at both body and mind.

So it turns out Lakan did ruin Fengxian, but doing so was the last thing he wanted. If he hadn’t been so short-sighted about what making love to her meant, or had stood up to his bully of a father, he might’ve been able to avoid her cruel and terrible fate.

But what was done was done, and as he wakes up in Verdigris house, Fengxian’s former servant girl Meimei presents him with two “gifts” from Maomao. The first is an extremely bitter medicine, perhaps a hangover cure but also a message, as the flavor efficiently conveys her feelings towards him. The second is a dried rose, which despite withering and shrinking, still holds its shape.

I imagine this to be a symbol of Maomao’s mother Fengxian, and another message for Lakan to do what he couldn’t do in the past and buy her out. As Maomao holds a dried blue rose bloom of her own while riding in a carriage (presumably back to Jinshi’s), after defeating him in the chess and dictating what he must do following that defeat, I wouldn’t be shocked if she had nothing more to say to her biological father.

Also, while I’m glad we’re finally getting the complete picture of Maomao’s parentage, and I’m happy she was a love-child and not some kind of tactic to tank her mom’s value, with so little time left I’m hoping the focus returns to Maomao herself, along with the still very nebulous and under-defined (at least to her) relationship with Jinshi. He clearly cares about and has affection for her, so hopefully he can make those feelings clear, even if she’s not interested in romance him, or anyone.

A Sign of Affection – 11 – Sending Good Vibes

Rin has started going on dates with Kyouya, and while she’s not sure they’re boyfriend and girlfriend yet, Itsuomi isn’t shy about saying he’s glad his cousin is taking his love life more seriously. Rin is tickled pink by his words, but then takes her leave so he and Yuki can be alone.

He can tell she’s nervous about her interview, and she is, so he takes her hands in his and offers some German words of encouragement: he’ll keep his fingers crossed for her. That said, she’s also nervous about overt PDA, even if he isn’t!

The interview with Madoka’s awesome aunt goes splendidly, and Yuki has herself a job at her café. No drama at all! That happens while grocery shopping on a busy day at the store, a clerk wearing a mask checks her out, and she’s unable to understand him. She’s bailed out by Oushi, who happens to be shopping there too.

He admits he had drinks with Itsuomi, and tells her to come to him if he makes her cry or hurts her because he hates him. When Yuki tries to praise Itsuomi in sign, Oushi stops her, but then apologizes. We learn in another flashback that Oushi once saw Yuki in a crowded subway not knowing what was going on, and wanted to learn how to sign to make her world a little bit better and easier to navigate.

As it turns out, he accomplished that, as when they went to college together, his signing with her gave her a huge lift and helped keep her going. Yuki is confused by how nice he’s been lately, but he makes it clear he’s trying to be less prickly as he navigates a world where she’s involved with another guy.

While grabbing Yuki’s hand while she was signing was rude as hell, at least he apologized and made sure he didn’t hurt her. As for Shin, he’s been dreading hurting Emma by telling her Itsuomi has a girlfriend, but this week he’s finally able to do so.

He admits to her he’s telling her this not just to console her, but for his own selfish reasons. He wants her to understand that even if she can’t have Itsuomi, she has him, and always has. When she brings up that time back at school when he said he’d never fall for her “even if he died”, he shocks her by admitting he had planned to take his feelings for her to his grave.

That night, after a great day at work, Yuki is feeling a little blue about not seeing Itsuomi much lately, but he suddenly texts her asking if she’s still up, then shows up outside her house. When she can’t make out his signing in the dark and he can’t quite make out hers from her balcony, she runs outside to chase him down, stumbles, he catches her and gathers her in his arms.

She can’t hear what he’s saying as he holds her, but she can feel the vibrations of the words, which help melt away her frustration. At the swings he points out they haven’t made plans or gone anywhere since they started dating, and asks where she’d like to go. Yuki had been focusing so much on saving and getting a job, she overlooked the fact that they could still go on dates and do things less grandiose than traveling overseas together.

With Rin in a good place with Kyouya, Oushi working through his angst and trying to become less of a shit, and Shin making his feelings clearer to Emma (though I do wish their scene had been longer and ended less abruptly), the stage is set for Yuki and Itsuomi to have their first official date together as a couple, in the finale of a series I earnestly hope gets a second season*. I’m just not ready to say goodbye to these good vibes!

I’m told the source material is still being written, so if there is a second season, it’s unlikely to air anytime soon.

The Dangers in My Heart – 23 – Unmuddying the Waters

Another sports festival is upon this, the final one of junior high. When Kyoutarou thinks of how far apart he and Anna were during the last festival compared to now, he’s embarrassed by his old self. But while he and Anna are a couple now in all but name, his friend Adachi still likes Yamada, and challenges him to a duel during he festival’s mock cavalry.

Kyou takes this seriously, because he wants to win, even if he knows that winning and losing doesn’t matter: Anna likes him, not Adachi. When he encounters Anna on a walk (and talking to) her dog, she has a race with him, during much of which they’re holding hands, and which leads to her apartment, where she demonstrates the proper use of an ab roller at an extremely improper angle to Kyou!

While he’s there, she also asks him how he likes his tamagoyaki: salty or sweet. When he answers “I like them sweet” while lifting her dad’s barbell, there’s a brief break that makes it sound like he’s shouting “I like you.” The next day, Anna’s friends paint hearts on her face, while she draws something under Kyous headband, wishing him good luck in his duel.

After some fun bits with Kankan rigging the scavenger hunt to try to out them as a couple, to Anna’s parents participating, rain starts to fall when it’s time for the cavalry battle. Both Adachi and Kyou tell the teachers they’re good to go in the rain, and the battle is on. But more important than the physical part of the fight is the battle of words between the two boys.

Adachi comes out and says the obvious: he likes Anna. At the same time, he likes Kyou too and thinks he’s great and is glad to be his friend. Kyou calls him out for only liking Anna for her looks while not knowing much anything else about her, then contradicts himself by admitting Adachi loves Anna’s grown-up and hard-working nature. Adachi ends up grabbing Kyou’s headband and winning the battle, but as Anna rushes over to Kyou, he knows he’s lost the war.

Back in the nurse’s office, the setting for so many important moments in their romance, Anna presents Kyou with a lunch she worked hard to make just for him. It tastes delicious, a testament to the love she put into it and the love she has for him. When she leans in close, he feeds her some eggs, even though it was her intention only to look into his eyes.

Before leaving him to grab her own lunch, Anna turns back to tell Kyou with a bright smile that he was really cool. I’ll tell you what would be cooler: if Kyou can manage to ask her out and make them official!