Yukio is studying for his high school entrance exam, but he just keeps getting distracted. Whether it’s his Dying Breed radio request getting played (and so of course he has to stop studying and strum along), or the new information that Momo-sensei worked at the Ram Club (a lingerie club or something), he just can’t get it together. And so, in spite of his awesome self-motivation poster and froggie drawing, Yukio doesn’t get into the same school as Izumi. In one of his last days at the middle school, Yukio runs into Hyoudou in the bathroom and Hyoudou tells Yukio to punch him in the face because it’s not good to keep emotions pent up. Now that they’re good friends and rivals, I guess this sorta thing is OK. Hyoudou goes to a different high school, and both Yukio and Sakurai end up at Ichieda Gakuen Private High School.
Yukio seems to have developed a little bit of fame, and he even has an upperclassman friend in Chiba. Now that school is no longer an issue, all of Yukio’s free time is devoted to the band. He decides to get a guitar of his own, and Ryuusuke takes him shopping. The shop’s owner is a pretty good guitarist, but it turns out he never made it to a major label. He’s Taira’s friend, however, and so gives Yukio a good loan offer for the Telecaster guitar that Yukio has his eye on. Ryuusuke, however, has his eye on an expensive custom Tiger Eye Les Paul and somehow has the cash to put down for a large down payment. Right at the end, Ryuusuke gets an alarming call from Eddie. Seems like the true owner of Lucille found out about Ryuusuke and Eddie, and so mailed a box of bullets to Eddie. And the bullets match up exactly to the holes in Lucille…
This was a nice transition episode, with Yukio moving ahead in various aspects of his life. While the band he is in remains the static center of his life, the rest of his life changes greatly. Now he’s in a new school, got a new job (to pay for his guitar), bought a new guitar, and even possibly got his eye on a new girl. Yukio also tries a new hairstyle, but fortunately this doesn’t last (it was mad old school, like he stole it from Legend of the Galactic Heroes or something). In the minus column, however, is all the foreshadowing about that Yoshito punk. Those water ads of his are everywhere, and I can only hope that Yukio has grown enough of a spine by now to one day stand up to Yoshito. Not that I really see this happening.
