Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue – 09

「君にさしだす」 (Kimi ni Sashidasu)
“I Reach Out to You”

There was a time when I held onto Subaru and Haru, refusing to let others puncture their lovenesty bubble. That time is now over. This episode proved too good for these two to stay cooped up at home together.

Let’s start with Haru, whose perspective was made first priority this week. Her adorable voice took the lead for the first third of the episode. So far, she’s been able to predict each of Subaru’s movements and habits, proving that they’ve spent quite some time bonding in between episodes. But on book signing day, Subaru is acting differently, which throws her off completely. After she realizes he hasn’t returned, all hell breaks loose. She might shrug off her overreaction as a result of feeling hangry but I attribute this little show of anger to her inability to deal with the misery she felt while Subaru was amiss. Safe to say that our little prideful huntress has become all too emotionally dependent.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Subaru is struggling to sign copies of his book “Shining in the Dark of Night” for his fans. He pretty much freaks out, but then forces himself to go through with it. Previous episodes have given us some pretty hefty backstory on both our MCs, so we knew coming into this ep how challenging this would be for him. I was pretty much holding my breath the whole time. I think the writers do a great job at rousing uncomfortable emotions in us from awkward situations and when Nana showed up… well, I still hadn’t taken a breath.

I knew this was coming. I was curious to find out how they’d resolve it and honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better resolution. Subaru has always been sincere in his reactions. True, he oftentimes disregards his friends’ presence (notice I call them friends now instead of ‘strangers’/’people’/’supporting characters’) and rarely thinks about how they feel, but recently he’s been opening himself up to the warmth that they bring simply by being in his life. The newfound appreciation he felt in the previous episode for Hiroto and his editor Kawase has now trickled into his interactions with Nana and strangers alike. However, this time he isn’t simply acknowledging that his friends make him happy, he’s finally reaching out to them and expressing himself a little more, which results in touching moments with both Kawase and Haru. There are some pretty strong bonds that are forming and I’m hoping we see these develop into some fruitful relationships.

In other news, did anyone else notice Subaru in a detective disguise as he figures out that Haru’s the true culprit who ransacked the house? The timing in this series is subarashii! Always on point. Now that he’s finally opening up, chuckling aloud next to Haru, and openly shaking hands with strangers, it looks like his imagination has been let out of the box. Can we get more of that? I want to see the world the way he does when he writes his mystery novels.

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