TL;DR Version:
Aoba and Minato both seem to want things to go back to how they were, but maybe have different ideas on how. Minato and Sakura reconcile and Minato invites Sakura to a futsal game with their old classmates. While earlier promising both Sakura and Aoba that he’ll take care of her, during the game Minato tells Sakura to take her back and dumps Aoba.

Recap:
Minato and Aoba are still crying in the street while Aoba’s brother and Sakura awkwardly wait in the apartment. Aoba’s brother annoys me again, blocking Sakura from leaving because he doesn’t want him to interfere with Aoba and Minato’s relationship. 

Minato tries to run away and have Aoba apologize for him, but instead she forces him and Sakura to be alone together. Minato, instead of apologizing for himself, apologizes for Aoba being in a bad mood. Sakura and him bond over Aoba being the hangry type.

Aoba tells her brother she knows this is what they’ll be doing. She wants them to be friends again though, so she’s okay with it.

The guys are drinking and talking about sports, so I guess it’s working. Sakura uses the voice-to-speech app, but when Minato walks away he’s talking too softly to be picked up. Sakura uses his voice to get his attention. When Sakura uses his voice again, Minato tells him to do whatever is comfortable. 

Sakura uses texting to apologize to Minato, who says it’s okay. Sakura wants to apologize to Aoba too. Minato reassures him that Aoba is okay, they’re together because they love each other, and he’s taking good care of her. 

When Aoba returns Sakura has just left. Minato doesn’t tell her what they said, but she guesses that Minato promised to take care of her. Minato is relieved that Sakura is the same as always. He also tells Aoba he’ll always put her needs first. Both these things seem dangerous to me.

At Sakura’s home, the sister admits to her mother she’s worried about Sakura and then tries to backtrack. She signs to her father that he wasn’t supposed to tell her mother about the visit, it’s a clever way of talking behind someone’s back.

Aoba and Minato nearly run into Sakura and his friend on a walk, but Aoba doesn’t see them. Sakura and his friend walk away. The friend knows who Aoba is but not that she had a boyfriend. 

Still walking together, Aoba and Minato talk about endings and how Minato always anticipates them, like them breaking up. Aoba says it would be better for them not to break up.

Minato texts Sakura an apology for ignoring him at the park and asks if he was with his girlfriend. Sakura says no, and texts him the same question as a joke.

Sakura’s friend, Nana, is walking with another friend. They sign about how Sakura is different from them because he could once hear.

Minato and Sakura meet up, and Minato wants Sakura to come to a futsal game with old classmates. Sakura is worried about being treated differently. Minato apparently tells Aoba because she also texts Sakura to check if he’s going. 

The sign language teacher has a conversation with another sign language instructor who is Deaf. The Deaf teacher feels like there’s a wall between them. The sign language teacher feels it would be arrogant of him to assume he understands Deaf people because he can sign, and Deaf people understand each other better.

Minato sets up the futsal team specifically for Sakura, even though he hasn’t agreed. Minato also wants Aoba there because she can sign.

Aoba’s brother calls Minato because he’s bored, and Minato wants him to learn sign language for some reason. Aoba’s brother is confused. 

Sakura never sends a confirmation text, but he does show up for futsal. Aoba is waiting for him, and Sakura demonstrates how unhelpful she’ll be by immediately signing something she can’t understand. He tries to leave, but she keeps him there, and then the teacher from earlier comes out. Aoba is able to do some interpreting, and Minato watches them from a little ways away.

There’s some futsal playing and then Minato joins Aoba, giving her a drink he accidentally bought. Aoba tells Minato some things she knows about Sakura’s experiences. Minato stares at Sakura and the sound cuts out, like Sakura’s silent world now. Abruptly, Minato tells Aoba they should break up. Because she loves Sakura.

As usual, Minato is blaming Aoba for his own feelings. We cut to earlier in the locker room, when Sakura screwed up Minato’s drink on purpose. Minato tells him that he wants Sakura to take Aoba. Minato has been horribly bored for the last three years, trying to be everything for Aoba and not be himself, and it turned out the Aoba he liked was the one that was with Sakura. And he wants things to go back to how they were.

Sakura says he can’t hear, and Minato thinks he’s the same except for that. 

Back outside, Minato and Sakura’s eyes meet while Aoba sits there. Everyone looks confused and unhappy.

Thoughts:
Again, wow, this show.

Only five minutes in and Minato’s condescending attitude towards Aoba was driving me crazy. But by the end it’s interesting to see that the way he treated her was because he was trying to be this person for her that he isn’t. I still think he’s pretty rotten for constantly blaming Aoba’s feelings for his own, and don’t know how she put up with it for three years. I’m wondering what his growth over the next six episodes will be, whether he’ll figure out how to honestly be himself and stop putting things on others.

I feel kinda bad for Sakura for the way both Aoba and Minato are trying to push him into this place. Aoba at least understands that Sakura has been through things, Minato’s idea that everything can just go back to the way it was is deeply flawed. But even with Aoba, I’m not sure entirely what she thinks she’s trying to do. Maybe some part of her wants to fix things between Sakura and Minato, because she’s with Minato? 

This episode it really struck me how Sakura’s silence is important to the theme of the show. A friend of mine who is an ASL interpreter told me that it is more typical for people who have lost their hearing to still use their voices, but I appreciate the point this show is making about the different experiences. Not all Deaf people are the same, or people who’ve lost their hearing, etc. I think the sign language instructor’s assumption that Deaf people understand each other better, outside of the linguistic sense, is flawed.

And I really, really appreciate the way this show plays with sound. The way it cut out the sentimental music during the futsal and then all the sound cut out when Minato was looking at Sakura, was great.

Obviously, things can’t go back to how they were. I am very curious about where it will all end up.