This episode starts with Hana paying Shinichi an unannounced visit to his apartment. It’s Golden Week, and she had a reasonable expectation he’d be home and wouldn’t have anything going on. She gets him to join her on a Doraemon Go! trip outdoors, but his eyes are bothering him from all the gaming, so she takes him shopping for glasses. That’s where they encounter Ami, who is back from her family.
The two proceed to gang up on Shinichi, having him wear increasingly ridiculous glasses and then laughing at him. Considering Shinichi is not an M, he’s not really having fun, and the scene gets a bit uncomfortable, especially when Ami lies about having a serious pair for him, only for them to be over-the-top aviators. Shinichi has had his fill of this, so when Hana finally tries on a pair, he insults her and the two dive into a spirited bickering session.
It’s not a particularly good start for two people who are presumably eventually going to click as a couple, but when the train they’re on gets increasingly crowded, their dynamic morphs from aggressively adversarial to protective, as Shinichi’s relatively large body shields her from the crush of new passengers. Eventually the chests of the two are pressed together, Shinichi’s heart rate increases, and both he and Hana start to blush.
She remarks that they’re in a “wall slam” like situation, without getting into how she feels about that, though she admits there’s not much to be done about it; there’s no space. Rather than reckon with the present situation, Shinichi withdraws within himself, trying to block out all sight and sound, only for the smell of Hana’s hair to become more prominent. He ends up passing out standing up, and gets separated from Hana when the doors close between them.
When he comes to form his mini fugue state at the end of the train line, he sees missed calls from an obviously worried Hana, and feels bad. Back at the cafe, Ami suggests the best way forward is to simply reach out to her. At the college common room Hana is down in the dumps because it’s so gray and dreary and “there are no holidays in June”.
So Shinichi, unbidden, takes the initiative and suggests they hang out together to at least make the free time they have worthwhile, and also to make up for leaving her in the lurch on the train. The day they’re to hang out there’s even more rain, and Hana is soaked on her way to his place.
No matter; she simply showers (after playfully asking if he’d join her), borrows his much larger clothes, and cooks up some tasty curry. They spend the day playing Meowcraft, building a ridiculous structure together. Shinichi’s got his new glasses to cut down on blue light, and in general the atmosphere is so much more pleasant and comfortable than the glasses store debacle.
Aside from a brief vertical pan on a showering Hana there’s minimal fanservice and more importantly, no teasing or bickering. Between the close quarters, the shared clothes and cooking together, there’s a lovely domestic intimacy to their day, and even if it never veers into overt romance there’s definitely ample chemistry and amity we frankly needed to see after Glassesgate.
When Shinichi walks Hana to the station, the rain has stopped, and it feels like they’ve reached a milestone in their relationship. Not only did Shinichi suggest they hang out; not only did they thoroughly enjoy themselves, but he suggests she come by another time, something Hana thought wouldn’t happen so fast. She throws caution to the wind and proposes tomorrow, and Shinichi is fine with it!
Now Shinichi knows what it’s like to hang out with Hana on a rainy day, without Ami or any other bystanders to provoke any sniping or misbehavior. The two end up getting along famously. While Shinichi will probably always value his solitude, it’s clear he no longer sees hanging out with Hana to be a hassle or a chore, and something to which he can actually look forward rather than dread. It’s very promising development!
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