This next episode takes a while to explain, and I think some of you will be gnashing your teeth by the end of the episode - yes, it's one of THOSE types of episodes.

Summary:
The next morning, Suzuka runs to school without waiting or looking at Yamato, claiming to have morning practice. She acts weird towards him all day. During the day, he notices her talking to another guy (in glasses), asking her to go somewhere with him after practice. Yamato is surprised that she agrees and becomes very mad at this. Yamato asks Yasu to go to karaoke with him, but instead of just the two of them, Yasu invites Honoka to go with them. During the session, Yamato sings all out & Honoka is just thrilled to be hanging out with him, but most things she does reminds him of Suzuka, yet she perceives everything to be some sign that he likes her. Yamato leaves in a hurry, but Yasu prevents Honoka from following him. At home, Yamato sees Suzuka and Glasses Guy talking on the stairs outside. It turns out Glasses Guy (Souichi Miyamoto) was trying to meet Yamato to invite him to join track. Yamato, seeing that this isn't a guy dating Suzuka, laughs at the situation and says no. Souichi doesn't seem to want to give up. He also says that Yamato is the type Suzuka likes, and when Yamato asks her about that, she decks him. The next day at home during a rainstorm, the power goes out. Suzuka comes over to stay with him while its out, and she brings aroma candle. The wind and thunder seem to scare Asahina - she won't admit it but says her sister would normally be around her when storms occur in her hometown. Yamato mentions that his hometown has fireflies at night, and Suzuka says she has never seen fireflies but wants to. Suzuka gets closer and closer with each thundercrash until she ends up grabbing him during one bolt. Shortly after, the power comes back on and she leaves. Yamato later talks to Yasu about making a confession to Suzuka with Yasu saying to be careful on timing. Meanwhile, Honoka comes to eat with them - when Yamato asks her if she's ever confessed, she gets all flustered and overseasons her soup. Later, Suzuka asks Yamato to go shopping with her. He starts to confess, then says she should be buying him lunch if she wants him to go shopping with her. They laugh about it and head off to eat and shop.

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This is one of those episodes that frustrates you and entertains you at the same time. There are a lot of funny moments - the karaoke scene with Honoka, and later Honoka's overseasoning of her soup. But other parts of the episode are very revealing - the whole entire scene in Yamato's room during the storm gave us a lot of information to process: Suzuka has a sister who she's very close to, she always visits on Sundays, Yamato comes from a rural town near Yokohama. Like threads in a rug, we're getting pieces of the puzzle to understanding Suzuka as a person.

What's frustrating is that you know that at some point, we'll have setbacks, and near the end was one of those. Yamato's failure to confess anything isn't a major breakdown, but it reminded me of a lot of times when I wouldn't ask a girl out and settled for friendship. I think that's why I find this genre very interesting - it's kind of a nostalgia thing for my high school days.

Hopefully, Honoka won't continue to be a humor bit and will actually provide an effective foil to Suzuka. There are a lot of episodes to go, and I don't want her to just devolve into a character who keeps failing to say anything of import to Yamato - there's potential for a lot more and real conflict. Yasu continues his advice throughout the episode, and I find I enjoy his character more and more.

There's still a lot of room for character development with Yamato. I liked to see the jealousy of other guys, because even though he hasn't confessed anything, I think that's a realistic emotion - as he says "She gives me such a hard time, but she's talking to other guys!?!?!?!" Tell me you haven't had those emotions before in talking to some girl or guy.