Shinichiro is annoyed that Noe is leaving him packets of seeds everywhere, but when he goes to complain, he’s surprised to see her with her arms wrapped around a bishie on a motorcycle. Later that day, Ai explains how sometimes if you can’t be close to the one you love, you pick someone who is close to your crush. Shinichiro wonders if this means that Hiromi wanted to be friends with Noe to be close to him, but Ai is strangely downcast and embarrassed as she gives the advice. Shinichiro gets a bit closer to Hiromi as they walk together to deliver some booze, and Hiromi flashes back to when she lost Shinichiro down this very same road. However, when Shinichiro asks about the flashback, Hiromi pretends to have forgotten about it.
The next day Shinichiro confronts Noe about her BF, but she makes him carry her to the basketball game, and Shinichiro realizes that biker boy was actually just her big brother. Miyokichi points out how odd it was that Shinichiro was carrying Noe, so Shinichiro decides to explain the situation to Hiromi. As he gets closer, her overhears Tomoyo pestering Hiromi to be jealous of Noe, but Hiromi tells Tomoyo not to ask about Shinichiro anymore, because she is really in love with Hotarugawa’s star, Number 4 (Noe’s brother). As Hiromi rounds the corner, she is shocked to see Shinichiro there, and realizes he may have overheard everything.
What an action-packed episode! There was a lot of strange behavior this episode, especially between Hiromi and Shinichiro’s mom. Shinichiro’s mom is pulling the classic evil step-mom routine, so I wonder if perhaps Hiromi’s mom was her love rival or something. As for Hiromi, I don’t believe her for a second when she says she doesn’t like Shinichiro (and I don’t think Tomoyo does either). Hiromi’s monologue suggests she had to seal away her feelings and memories to live with the Nakagami family, so perhaps Shinichiro’s mom is blackmailing Hiromi to stay away from Shinichiro.
I’d bet 10 packets of chicken feed that Hiromi used to prattle on and on about dating Shinichiro to Tomoyo, which is why Tomoyo is skeptical about Hiromi’s new love interest. Why would you want to date someone who has the exact same basketball moves as you (drive hard, and then inexplicably take a challenged pull-up jumper in the lane)? I’m also a little sketched out that Ai is hinting she only goes out with classic bachelor Miyokichi as an excuse to be closer to Shinichiro (which goes completely over Shinichiro’s head).
