Akane still remembers the day she was wandering FOS looking defeated and bored when she was comforted by the warm light of Rurihime. It’s for this reason that now that she’s over her Covid (hat tip to kumashock) she wants Eita and Momo to be the first people to hear that she’s fallen for someone—and Eita can easily guess who.
Eita tells Akane that even though most people note Yamada’s looks, there’s no one kinder than him, so he wishes Akane the best in expressing her feelings to him. Once Akane is off, Momo wastes no time re-introducing herself and asking if Eita has a girlfriend. Hey, can’t hurt to try!
But when Akane stops by Yamada’s to say what she wants to say, the moment never seems right. There are loud neighbors ruining the mood. Yamada is in a rush to get to cram school. Without knowing what Akane wants to say, he suggests she walk with him, but she loses focus and almost gets hit by car-kun.
It’s at this point that Akane decides to call it; she’ll tell him another time. But Yamada can still sense it’s something important, so he says he’ll give her a call later tonight. This puts a big, adorable smile on Akane’s face, which in turn puts a smile on Yamada’s.
By not going for broke and getting those ever-important three words out when she had the chance, Akane unwittingly kept the door open for someone else: Tsubaki. After cram school it starts raining hard, and Tsubaki doesn’t have an umbrella so Yamada shares it with her.
When he decides to give the whole umbrella to her and run for it, Tsubaki chases after him, stumbling and dropping her glasses in the process. Yamada comes back to pick them up for her, and that’s when she says “I like you,” tearfully covering her mouth immediately after as if she’d done something terrible.
But kudos to Tsukabi—she said what needed to be said to clear the air between them, and her timing was perfectly imperfect. The only problem is, it’s unlikely Yamada can return her feelings. He may not totally understand his feelings for Akane, but he knows he doesn’t have those same feelings for Tsubaki.
My heart breaks for Tsubaki, as she’s a good kid who deserves happiness. But I also can’t overlook how well-matched Akane and Yamada are. Yesterday, Akane felt selfish and self-centered by not thinking about Yamada’s schedule the day she visited him to confess.
Rather than press her agenda of trying to confess when he visits the konbini where she works unannounced, Akane can tell Yamada is down, and so decides to cheer him up, drawing her character and her new sword on his hand. When he tells her he’s quiet and reserved because he fears saying the wrong thing, and is “just a nobody”, Akane assures him he isn’t.
That said, I would feel like garbage too if I had to meet with Tsubaki that night to turn her down and possibly break her heart. Tsubaki’s sentiment is devastatingly apt: falling in love should be more fun than that.
As for Akane, she could have confessed to Yamada the previous day or here outside the konbini, but chose to subordinate her feelings to Yamada’s (previously due to his hectic schedule, now due to his mood). Eventually, if anything is going to happen with these two, Akane is going to have to put herself and her feelings, first.
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