TL;DR Version:
After a few awkward moments, Sakura asks Aoba if being around him is tough. Nana and the sign language teacher’s troubled past relationship is revealed, where he wanted to help her and she felt used. Aoba talks to her mother about being helpless around the ones they care for, and after some mom wisdom, Aoba tells Sakura she just wants to be with him.
Recap:
Sakura and Aoba finish their hug. Sakura explains that since he can’t hear himself he feels like he can’t get through to anyone, and it’s scary not to hear himself. He has more he wants to tell her, but she’ll have to wait.
Nana tells the sign language teacher she discovered he was teaching there because of a friend’s friend. She describes Sakura and Aoba, not using their names, and signs that they reminded her of him. It’s a short meeting and she’s gone while he calls after her uselessly.
Sakura’s brother is drinking with Minato and that one friend. They have a text group called “Make [Aoba] Happy Team” and Minato gets to decide whether or not to invite Sakura.
Sakura’s mom hesitantly texts Sakura about a visit and he hesitantly replies that he’s thinking about it. In contrast, when Aoba texts Sakura he’s ready to see her anytime.
Sakura’s sister is eating pudding, and their Mom wants to know the sign. The mom feels without practicing with Sakura she’s losing some words.
The next day Aoba is asking Sakura about a sign that turns out to also be pudding. They plan to see a movie, and Aoba has researched movies accessible for him (or maybe locations?). Sakura looks concerned and apologizes, but doesn’t explain why. Then Aoba’s co-worker shows up, and there’s an awkward moment before he realizes Sakura is deaf.
Afterward, Sakura is still apologizing. He thinks it’s tough to be around him. Aoba in turn apologizes if she made him feel that way, he says it’s okay, but she looks concerned.
At the end of class, Aoba asks the sign language teacher about getting tired of signing because of what Sakura said. She’s not sure what to do about it, and he isn’t either.
Nana is looking at old notebooks, and we slip back to their college years. He couldn’t find a job so he became her assistant during lectures. Unlike her other assistants, he paid attention to her. Gradually they got closer and he learned sign from her. We also see that he zipped her bag up for her before Sakura.
A colleague of his calls his friendship with her volunteering and says other offensive things. The sign language teacher leaves, angry, and sees Nana outside. He calls her name and they’re both surprised when she turned around because she sensed he was there. Then she starts teasing that actually she heard his voice.
Their relationship fell apart when she discovered he was trying to help her instead of just being with her. She’s angry that he used her to feel like he was a good person. He calls signing with her tiring.
Present day Nana shows up at his school again. She’s happy he’s teaching and signing. They catch up and then gossip about Aoba and Sakura, now referring to them by name. Nana wants their relationship to work out regardless of their hearing.
Aoba and her brother go home for their father’s death anniversary, or maybe Obon. Her mom tells a story about their father not wanting her to visit him in the hospital because it was too tough. Aoba instantly gets it and the two repeat each other while the brother is clueless.
Aoba tells her mother about breaking up with Minato, and over pudding tells her about Sakura and his hearing. Aoba is surprised at the mother’s easy acceptance. The mother asks if there’s anything she can do about his hearing, or if objecting would change anything. When Aoba says it won’t, the mom says it’s none of her business. She tells Aoba that after her father told her not to visit, she didn’t. After a week, she got texts every day asking for visits.
Aoba shows her mom and brother the sign for pudding. Sakura and his sister are also eating pudding. The sister still feels responsible for their mom’s worrying. Sakura says that’s not why he’s not going home. Nana has left a letter for the sign language teacher, but we don’t get to see what she wrote.
Aoba’s mother gives her a huge bag of food. It’s her way of expressing feelings with words. Back home, Aoba’s brother encourages her to share the bounty, so Aoba has Sakura over.
Aoba wants to tell him that she’s with him because she wants to be with him, and knows she can’t do anything for him and isn’t there because she wants to do something for him. If he feels being with her is troublesome he should let her know, and she’ll do the same.
That’s what she wanted to say. And also share her mom’s cooking. She then pretends not to understand him when he asks after her cooking.
Sakura shows up at his own home where his mother greets him in sign and then pushes him towards the house.
Thoughts:
Communication continues to be the focus of this show and I love it. The sign language teacher and Nana could communicate, but that didn’t mean they understood each other. Sakura and his mom are communicating so infrequently that she’s forgetting how. Meanwhile, the sign for pudding makes its way around all the characters and to the audience too.
I wonder how long it’s been since Sakura went home? I didn’t feel like it was that long earlier in the show, but this episode gave the sense it’s been some time.
Aoba’s mom for the win. The sign language teacher’s college colleague said such ignorant things (that I know people really say) and Aoba’s mom’s simple acceptance of the situation was a balm. Also, my parents also send me home with bags of things, though my mom is not a cook so it’s usually other things.
The show wasn’t explicit, but I saw parallels between what Aoba was dealing with Sakura and what had happened with Minato. It was clear that Minato and she didn’t communicate, and Minato was doing all kinds of things to be there for her and help her, and in the end that was too much for Minato. It gives me hope for her and Sakura to see her clearing this air early on, so neither of them is trying to please the other in an unhealthy way. Communication is so nice to watch.
Meanwhile, does the sign language teacher feel like he’s being haunted by Sakura Sou? A man he keeps hearing about but never seeing. What will he think when they actually meet?