ef – a tale of memories – 04

Summary:

Chihiro is waiting again at the station the day after she was sick, and Renji brings her a present in the form of a plushie to apologize for breaking his promise. It turns out that she doesn’t remember what happened very well, but she thanks him anyway. Renji then suggests that she write a novel with him, however Chihiro feels that this is impossible and claims that she doesn’t want to write it. To his surprise, she questions why he would speak so maliciously, so he explains that he wanted to try this for her sake since she had said that it was her dream to write a story. However, Chihiro feels that this was the herself of one week ago, and she angrily leaves after Renji says that she is still herself and that her dream is still her dream. Meanwhile, Kei is moping over what happened with Hiro last time when she gets a call from Mizuki, and she happens to find out that Mizuki is out of money because she lent it to Hiro. Upon learning how Miyako supposedly rejected Hiro and left him at the restaurant even though she was supposed to pay, Kei is actually kind of happy.

Hiro is at that time discovering how little money he has in his bank account, and he’s on his way home from the store when he runs into Miyako. When she notices that he’s got cup ramen in his shopping bag, he confirms his bad financial situation, so she tries to invite him out again. But since Hiro has work to do, Miyako instead opts to have him take her to his apartment. When they get there, Hiro tells her that she’s not being very cautious since he’s a guy who’s living alone, but Miyako feels that she can trust him because he’s nice to her, and she claims to have good judgment for character. She starts to explain why, but then turns her attention to the perverted stuff that Hiro has lying around. Hiro wants to get started on his work and doesn’t want her to see the pre-publication manuscript, so she makes him give him some of his other work. Unbeknownst to Hiro, Kei is at this moment trying out her hand at cooking so that she can make him something, though her test subject Mizuki finds it horrible. Kei blames herself for Hiro working so hard these days because it was she who had originally gotten him into drawing manga when they were young.

As he draws his manga, Hiro remembers being happy with how Kei and Chihiro used to be delighted with what he drew. However, he questions what he wants now and feels that he’s looking for the missing color in his world. When Hiro pauses because his hand starts hurting, Miyako suddenly shows up wanting to read more of his manga since she finds it really interesting. That doesn’t help Hiro’s wallet though, and he soon finds that he’s got only 37 yen left in the bank. What does help is Miyako cooking dinner for him as thanks for the manga, and it turns out to be quite delicious. Watching Hiro eat, she notices that he’s holding his chopsticks wrong, but when she touches his right hand, he winces in pain because of the tendinitis there. This leads to Miyako commenting on the bad state of Hiro’s life, so Hiro wonders if she thinks he’s a fool for forcing himself to do what he can’t. She doesn’t actually feel this way and tells him that him working his hardest is what makes it worthwhile. Miyako then tries to feed him, and it is at this moment that Kei suddenly opens the door. Kei has brought Hiro some food that she made, but the sight of Miyako already feeding Hiro causes her to run out again.

Renji meanwhile has chased Chihiro to the beach and tries to convince her to try writing a story with him. She resists even though she knows that he’s right about it being her dream, and she questions what he expects her do to. Right after she says this, however, she starts to fall backwards as a wave comes crashing onto the beach. Renji catches her, and even though Chihiro wanted his help, she asks why someone other than herself knows her. In truth, she does want to write the story, but she is afraid that she’ll lose everything if even that turns out to be no good. Realizing how she feels, Renji apologizes, and when he sees the tears in her eyes, he asks if he can kiss her and if they can become lovers. She rejects him for today because he was being mean, though she thinks that it would have been better if it were yesterday when she was lonely and wanting to see him. Chihiro admits that she had written that she loved him in her diary yesterday, and she now rushes to him. With Chihiro wanting him to hold her for a little longer, Renji asks her what kind of story she wants to write, and she answers that it’s a story about the sole female survivor of a ruined world.

ED Sequence

ED: 「刻む季節」 Kizamu Kisetsu by 岡田純子 (Okada Junko)
Watch the ED! Mirror 1, Mirror 2

I think the series is finally hitting its stride and getting good with all the progress made in this episode. I haven’t been too interested in Renji and Chihiro’s relationship up until now, but after this, it actually appears to be further along than anyone else’s relationship given that Chihiro’s basically confessed her feelings. Still, I have a sneaking suspicion that something will happen with her memory disorder to screw things up again since it’s too early in the series for them to achieve happiness. Kei meanwhile has lost again to Miyako, but since she’s not standing her ground, tempers really haven’t flared yet. Knowing that she’ll probably end up with Kyousuke takes away some of the fun, but I’m still curious how things will develop.