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Summary:
Sitting alone, Suzuka remembers when she learned of Kazuki’s death. She had been so excited about his running that her sister accused even her of liking him. But then she got a call from Miyamoto telling her that Kazuki died in a traffic accident. After the memorial service, she went to pick up his stuff from the clubroom, but got emotional after seeing a message he wrote on the table about them aiming to be number one. She started crying after drawing a love-love-umbrella above their names, and lamented that because he died, she couldn’t answer his confession anymore.
Back in the present, Honoka finds Suzuka sitting on the steps outside her home and realizes that something must have happened with Yamato. Suzuka denies being involved with him, saying that they’re only friends, but Honoka knows better. She blames Suzuka attitude for being too wishy-washy. Suzuka counters by saying that Honoka doesn’t know what it’s like to have the person she likes die, to which Honoka replies that Suzuka doesn’t know what it’s like to have the person she likes to be taken from her. Suzuka runs away after Honoka tells her that Yamato will always wait for her. Soon after, Yamato arrives wondering where Suzuka went, and Honoka tells him to hurry towards the park.
Just as Suzuka is calming down and thinking that she’ll apologize to Yamato tomorrow, he shows up behind her. Wanting him to leave her alone for now, she runs away again, but slips and falls. She yells at him until he apologizes and says that he was worried about her. She tells him to stop, and says that if he’s nice to her any further, than she’d… She never finishes her sentence, but it’s clear that she wanted to say “like him”. When Suzuka says that she doesn’t want to go through this a second time, Yamato realizes that she’s still hung up over Kazuki. At wit’s end, Yamato pulls her in and kisses her. She’s shocked at first and eventually pushes him away. Several slaps later, she calls him the worst and leaves. Left alone, Yamato thinks that this is probably the end.
And we’re here, the climax of the series – the kiss (finally) between Yamato and Suzuka. Yamato realizes that if he doesn’t do something drastic, then their relationship won’t progress. Granted, he gets five slaps and feels pretty bad afterwards, but it’s definitely not over yet. Suzuka herself needs to get over losing Kazuki and move on to thinking about the present. She doesn’t want a repeat of last time, but I would think that she should have learned a lesson to be more honest with her feelings. As for Honoka, she tries to make it so that her relationship with Yamato didn’t end in vain with her conversation with Suzuka, and even tells Yamato where Suzuka went. She really deserves her own happiness (making me wish they had kept in the photo shoot stuff).
Next week is the final episode! Theoretically, the end of chapter 72 would be a great place to end the series, but that doesn’t seem like enough material for an entire episode. Hopefully they’ll do a good job with it regardless.