Mizusawa takes Tomozaki to Gumi’s all-girl’s school festival to observe, to absorb, and if possible, to flirt. He gets things started by effortlessly acquiring the contact info of one of the first cute girls he sees. By being a little goofy, a little charming, and 100% confident, he tells Tomozaki that attractive people can make themselves even more attractive: a “hotness spiral”, if you will.
They check in with Gumi, who is as apathetic about school festivals as she is about work. She can guess why two guys came to an all-girl’s school festival, and when she learns Tomozaki doesn’t have a girlfriend, he wishes him good luck with the girls in her class. Tomozaki doesn’t feel ready for this kind of thing yet, though he does manage to get a selfie with Mizusawa in “glasses.”
His last selfie is almost as easy as Tama’s. After having so many (earned) kind words about her story, Fuuka agrees to be in a selfie with Tomozaki. When they bump shoulders they both blush and Tomozaki apologizes, but it’s fine for Fuuka. I’m sure she’s nervous and shy (and indeed would prefer if he didn’t post their photo), but it’s clear she’s excited by this sudden development in their friendship. A selfie with Tomozaki is as big a deal as a selfie with her is to him.
Hinami congratulates Tomozaki on completing his photo checklist, but asks if he really has been giving the dating goal any thought. If he’s honest, he hasn’t. But we’ve known for a while now (since the first season, in fact) the two girls he wants to get closer to most. That’s Fuuka and Mimimi. Mimimi even foreshadows a later declaration by telling Tomozaki he’s “the only straight man for me,” albeit first in the context of him being in a comedy routine with her for the festival.
As Fuuka begins the task of adapting her short story to a script, she’s still struggling with the ending, which has a direct parallel to Tomozaki’s situation. She’s not sure who among two characters will end up with the hero, and what will happen to the other one. He asks who she’d choose if it were her, but she doesn’t want her personal feelings to affect her story.
Then Fuuka asks him: if there were two special people in his life, how would he choose one from among them? His answer—that he’s not in a position to make such a choice—clearly disappoints Fuuka, and probably for more reasons than one. If she’s trying to find out if he likes her, this line of questioning didn’t work.
Perhaps she’s simply talking hypothetically, but her faces and reactions suggest otherwise. But I also don’t know if she’d have any more success if she simply asked him, “Me, or Mimimi?” All I know is, it’s the rare meeting with Fuuka that ends with both of them feeling down. Mimimi spots him after school, and can tell even from the slump of his back that something’s bothering him.
She surprises him with a hearty slap on the back, hoping to cheer him up. She asks about Gumi, then why he went to an all-girls festival, and when he puts himself down, she tries to point out that he shouldn’t do that. She then proceeds to tell him all the things she likes about him, jokes about him thinking it means she likes him “that way”, and then admits that yes, she actually does like him that way. Not that I had any doubts!
The animators took special care to make Mimimi look more lovely than ever, while her seiyu Hasegawa Ikumi knocks it out of the park with her vulnerable earnestness. There’s no “psych!” or “just joking!” after she essentially confesses to Tomozaki. She simply says “See you later” and skips off, her ears burning from what just transpired. Here’s hoping Tomozaki interprets this for what it is and doesn’t misunderstand: He’s been given a choice, and he’s going to have to make one.
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