We get some surprises this week!

Summary:
Yamato realizes there's a day off from school coming up and is trying to plan a place to take Suzuka that doesn't seem too datelike, but where he possibly might confess (in anime, where you tell someone you like them and want to date). As he gets ready for school, a girl selling newspaper subscriptions offers 2 tickets to Fantasy Land (an amusement park) as an incentive. Yamato accepts, thinking he'll take Suzuka there. The only problem? How to ask her! After failing to ask at school, and before dinner, he is going to ask her after dinner, but he finds Saotome and Megumi waiting for him, drinking. Saotome teases him about asking Suzuka when she finds the tickets, and in the result of them being thrown around, the cat tears them to shreds. While mourning the loss of the tickets outside, Suzuka walks up, saying she got tickets herself (by starting to use the same excuse he was going to use to conveniently ask her). After an awkward discussion, they agree to go. The next day starts out miserably with a lot of rain as they wait in line and Suzuka threatens to go home after first ride. After the ride (a coaster) and an amusing picture from it, she decides to stay for longer. They ride and go shopping at the park. The skies clear and they go to see a parade. During the fireworks, Yamato works up the courage to confess that he likes her after a long internal debate on friendship versus relationship. Suzuka has a bad reaction, saying its rather sudden, and the trip breaks up after that... with Suzuka asking to hold her bag instead of Yamato, and general awkwardness. Arriving home, Yamato finds Yasu in his place, and after explaining events, Yasu leaves him some tissue. Yamato cries over his failure, then berates himself for crying. Meanwhile, Suzuka looks pensive in her own apartment.

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First off, I'm not sure exactly what role Saotome and Megumi are suppossed to play in this anime. They're not high school characters, and their only interactions thus far have been to make Yamato's life more difficult, but that's a role that could be done by other characters. Ask yourself - how many upper level college students would be hanging out with high school freshmen? Yeaaaaah, that's what I thought. This leads me to believe that this series is somewhat better thought of with the school as a junior college - otherwise some of the characters make no sense.

The confession goes about as badly as expected, but Suzuka seems overly miserable about it, when she was having so much fun. But it felt real, and we'll get into the reasons for it later, I'm sure.

I know some people will say "What kind of a man cries after failing in a confession?" Well, I think the reaction was realistic. It's a bad experience for him, and I don't know about you, but I would have been devastated. It was very perceptive of Yasu to pick up on what was going to happen when he did. It will be interesting to see character reactions and moves from this point on:

Will Yamato keep going after Suzuka, or fall to Honoka?

How will Suzuka's feelings work themselves out?

When will we find out about the guy in the picture?

When are the rest of the characters going to show up?

How the heck does this lead to Yamato joining the track team? (I can guess, but there are a number of angles they could take)

Realistic emotion so far. Hope they can keep it up.