Recap

Aoki, Ida and Akkun are walking from school together and joking around as Aoki VOs that this is how his love came to an end.

But Hashimoto won’t let him end it that way. Aoki feels like such trash for continuing to lie to Ida that he gets into a trash bag. He then accidentally admits he liked Hashimoto, and she both rapidly rejects him and backs me up on his feelings for Ida being stronger.

Aoki feels that Ida was relieved to hear it was a misunderstanding and doesn’t want to bother him. He’s going to seclude himself on a mountain.

Hashimoto goes to Akkun, worried about Aoki. Akkun is oblivious and insensitive about Aoki and Hashimoto slaps him. 

Akkun then finds Aoki on his mountain, a playground slide. Akkun now thinks he got slapped because Hashimoto likes Aoki. Aoki is unimpressed.

Aoki is in a mood as the class seats change and Akkun notices his longing stares at Ida. Akkun kabadons Hashimoto and demands to know if he got slapped because Aoki really likes Ida. 

Aoki thinks a teacher is accusing him of cheating, and Ida defends him. Aoki is having trouble letting go of his feelings, but Ida is distracted and thinking about Aoki too. 

Akkun has finally put it together and finds Aoki and apologizes. Aoki thinks Akkun’s reaction was normal and Akkun thinks that normal is wrong. Aoki VO’s that he was afraid that Akkun would hate him for liking Ida.

Akkun tells Aoki that he and Hashimoto made up, and she reminds him of a gorilla. Aoki advises him not to tell her that.

Ida’s volleyball teammates have noticed his distracted mood. He tells them the bare bones of his recent story. They want to know if he likes this person and tease him for being thickheaded and not being sure.

Aoki is still determined not to tell Ida his real feelings, but Akkun declares the upcoming class camping trip will be the best place for it. Aoki is resisting, but when Akkun says that Ida would take his feeling seriously Aoki agrees.

We see them walking on the camping trip, and Aoki giving a silent prayer to the mountain god.

Thoughts

The fun Hashimoto-gorilla bit is straight from the manga.

Again, this show touches lightly on lgbtq+ issues. Aoki was so afraid of Akkun hating him for liking Ida, that he went along with what Akkun wanted at the expense of his own feelings. I like that this show comes down on Aoki and Hashimoto’s side and doesn’t even slightly blame Aoki for not standing up for himself. Akkun meant well but he was insensitive and oblivious in such a way that Aoki felt he couldn’t be honest. Like Hashimoto said, sometimes people have a reason they can’t be open about their feelings.

And Aoki has been shown, again and again, to be more comfortable pretending to be happy than making other people feel bad. He did that after the play when Ida got upset and Aoki felt he had to lighten the mood, and countless other times. 

Akkun can’t be expected to read Aoki’s mind, but he should understand his friend a little better. He also shouldn’t insert himself into other people’s love lives that way, no matter what he thinks is going on. I can understand why Hashimoto found his confidence charming, but here he took it a step too far.

Part of why Ida compliments Aoki so well is that he has noticed Aoki’s habit of hiding certain feelings. Ida may seem slow, but really he’s being thoughtful and not just going with the flow. He’s sensitive and curious about Aoki’s true feelings and that’s really romantic.

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