When he arrives to class, he sees that Shiori was in class already. Shiori mentions that Mei she was filling in for Mei and would be Akari’s partner for the task. A flashback shows how Shiori had confessed her feelings for Jiro to Mei who had offered the exchange of duties. Jiro is excited about being paired up with Shiori for something at least. Meanwhile, Akari is in the cafeteria where her friends tease her for being totally in love with Jiro now. In class, the awkward Jiro has a hard time holding a straight conversation with Shiori. Just then, Akari sees Jiro and Shiori inside the classroom and notices how happy Jiro seemed. Shiori chickens out of confessing her feelings to Jiro and he too regrets not having the guts to tell Shiori he liked her. Jiro is standing on the balcony of his apartment when Akari comes out bringing two cups of hot milk for them. Jiro thinks back about his naive self not confessing his feeling to Shiori when they were both younger. Akari teases Jiro about spending some alone time with Shiori. Jiro tries to talk about Minami when Akari asks him to call her by her first name all of a sudden. Akari states that Jiro had no trouble calling Shiori by her first name but Jiro claims that she was different. Jiro does not even fall for Akari mocking him. Akari explains to Jiro how his name meant the light and she always feels empowered when someone called her by her first name. Jiro tries to call her out by the name and blurts out that the name suits her. Akari is touched by Jiro’s words and blurts out that he should call her by her first name too because if he does not, it makes it seem like she is the only one in love with him. It takes a minute for Jiro to register what Akari had said but the girl immediately backtracks and goes back to her bedroom. Jiro is sure that Akari must have made a slip-up because he is sure there was no way she was in love with Jiro. Akari, on the other hand, is worried about what she just said to him. The next day, the teacher informs the class that all students will be given a special test. The score of each individual student’s tests will be added to that of their respective partner which means that couples will have to study in pairs of two. Jiro is worried about Akari killing him because his grades were already below average. He suddenly recalls that he had never seen Akari studying and just as he had assumed, the gyaru is least interested in academics and tells him that she will be going to the karaoke bar with her friends. Jiro forces Akari to ditch the plan and come home to study with him and after a lot of pleading, Akari agrees. Meanwhile, Jiro tries to get Akari to focus on studying but nothing seems to work out. Akari thinks that Jiro wants to study in order to score well and switch partners but Jiro is actually looking out for the two of them. Akari teases Jiro and starts hitting on him but Jiro manages to get Akari to solve the math problem well. Akari is excited about learning to solve the problem and starts calling Jiro ‘sensei’ (teacher) and asks if that makes his heart race. Jiro is awkward about it but claims that he doesn’t mind the title. Akari wants to one-up Jiro and starts hugging him. Since it gets out of hand for him to stay calm anymore, Jiro straddles Akari on the couch. Just as they are about to kiss, Akari notices that Jiro was having a nosebleed. A while later, Jiro tells Akari that he was so adamant about them scoring well on the test because he was not as smart as the other students. Jiro did not want to hold Akari back from being paired up with Minami. But, Akari thinks about how she doesn’t want things to change between her and Jiro.
The Episode Review
Oh, the back and forth in this episode was just tiring. We have now come to terms with the fact that Jiro likes Akari and vice versa. Hell, the girl has already confessed that she loved Jiro but our main lead has to be the naïve teenager he is to misunderstand even that. Now that I am sure Jiro and Shiori are not going to get together, I am feeling bad for her one-sided feelings. I hope she starts liking Mei who clearly is interested in Shiori. Minami, on the other hand, has to be the most unlucky jock ever who despite being a popular student who is good at sports and academics can’t get a single girl to be interested in him. I wish he too gets paired with someone he likes and from the looks of it, I think that he has feelings for Shiori. Can’t wait for when Minami’s crush is finally revealed in the episodes to come.
