A Miki-centered ep - has a good character ever been so underused of late?

Summary:
Yamato missed Honoka in all the small things that happen during the day. He tells Yasu about the breakup at lunch and also tells him that his (Yasu's) thoughts were exactly right. Yasu tries to tell him that these things are not all one person's fault, but Yamato insists that he is to blame. At this point, Miki comes over and tries to find out what's going on. As Yasu and Miki banter back and forth, Yamato leaves in sad silence. Not knowing what is going on, Miki goes to practice.

At practice, Honoka hasn't shown up to do her manager duties, and Yamato reveals that they broke up. Now everyone, including Miki, knows why Yamatois so miserable. Miki comments on this to Suzuka and gives comments of pity, but Suzuka is as cold as ice, telling her that Yamato has gotten just as he deserves. While this is going on, Honoka is meeting with Nana, who points out that Honoka is making a lot of assumptions - that Yamato never said he still liked Suzuka and in the end, it might have been Honoka's lack of self-confidence that contributed as much to the breakup. Surprisingly, Honoka does agree, but isn't sure what to do about it.

At practice the next day, Honoka shows up to everyone's surprise. Honoka seems to have decided she must gain her own self-confidence and maybe then she'll be able to date Yamato. As Yamato is picked to be on the relay team, she decides to cheer him on (Kobayakawa also has some amusing scenes where he wants to be cheered on too... he really does like Honoka). Miki tells Suzuka that Yamato got picked for the team and that she's happy for him, but Suzuka coldly responds that she doesn't care - she can't care about a guy who broke up with Honoka because he thought she wasn't worth the bother. Miki is stunned that Yamato could be so shallow.

After practice, Yamato gets ready to leave, only to be surprised by a waiting Miki. She wants the answer from him - did he breakup with Honoka because he thought she was a bother. Yamato knows immediately that she must have talked to Suzuka, and tries to repeat the same lie to Miki, but Miki doesn't buy it. She says that he wouldn't be so sad if that was the case, nor would Honoka have come to practice. Yamato then tells her the true story: he didn't want Suzuka to feel as though it was her fault. When Miki asks why he did that, he replies that he couldn't exactly tell her that she *was* in part the reason for the breakup. Miki seems to understand, and to help lift Yamato's spirits, she invites him out to eat. After a comical session with a local delicacy, they walk home. Yamato tries to say that maybe he should quit the track team because he's being such a bother to those who have been on the team a while, but Miki tells him that while that was probably annoying to the members at first, they also expect that he'll do something amazing each time he runs, and that's why he shouldn't quit. In the end, Yamato decides not to quit and they both walk off to get dessert.

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Another excellent episode, setting up the seeds for what is to follow. It's fairly easy to guess that Suzuka will start having feelings for Yamato at some point, but remember what a "jerk" he was, only to have Miki tell her that Yamato was trying to protect her feelings by putting on an act. The real question is the setup for this, because it has to happen pretty quickly.

I'm not sure why Honoka is still pining for Yamato and thinking about confessing in the future. They don't seem to have a lot of places to go with that one in this series anymore.

Yamato proves once again that he's not a shallow character. He openly acknowledges all his faults in this episode - he ignored good advice from people, he was a jerk in general, and he knows he has done wrong. Yamato is finally grown up as a character - he knows he is not a perfect person, he knows how to deal with people now, and he has really come far from where he was early on in the series. From now on, it's likely that the focus will center more on Suzuka, who needs to learn to do much of the same.

It's also interesting that Yamato never answered Miki's question about still being in love with Suzuka. It's obvious to everyone, including Miki, but you could almost get the impression that Miki might be interested in Yamato.... almost, but in the end, she seems to be the caring friend who wants to help both her friends out.

The music is set... now let's see if the characters can dance.