School Rumble Ni Gakki – 16

Summary:
-Harima wakes up all tied up outside the Tsukamoto home. Tenma moved him there after she caught him going into Yakumo’s room the previous night. In trying to protect her sister, Tenma now wants Harima and Yakumo to stay apart.
-Harima misinterprets this as Tenma being mad because she’s actually in love with him. He decides to go to Tenma’s room that night to clear things up by confessing to her. However, when he knocks on her door, his choice of words (“this time it’s your turn”) is less than ideal. Tenma kicks him out the next day.
-Mikoto happens to see Harima wandering around a shopping mall. She offers to take him in, giving him a place to stay in the dojo. At first he turns it down, and then finds a job passing out tissues. But he gets bumped into by a stranger and the tissues fly out of his basket. Mikoto helps him pick them up and then asks him to carry her groceries home for her.
-Unbeknownst to Harima, Eri is also staying at Mikoto’s. The two run into each other when Harima goes looking for food in the kitchen. But since Mikoto has him wear a worker’s outfit and take off his glasses, Eri doesn’t recognize him.
-Mikoto does her best to get the two together, leaving the house with Harima when she has to go out. It ends up raining and Harima spots Eri taking down the laundry. Since she can’t quite reach the clothesline, Harima goes and helps her out.
-That night, after training in the dojo together, Mikoto goes ahead to the bath. However, she remembers that she needs to get Harima some food.
-When Eri gets to the bath, she assumes that Mikoto is already inside. She sees someone in there who appears to be Mikoto, not realizing that it’s actually Harima. Mikoto eventually does arrive at the bath and hears Eri talking to someone. She sees through the window that Harima is trapped now with Eri still not having realized that he’s not Mikoto.
-Eri asks about Asou, so Harima pretends to be Mikoto and says that he’s not interested in Asou. The real Mikoto throws a can at him for that, which alerts Harima to her presence. She helps him out by responding with her voice whenever Eri says something.
-Being the meddler that she is, Mikoto knowingly asks if Eri confessed to Harima. Eri of course claims that she doesn’t want to confess to Harima, but she has noticed all the couples around. Eri then reveals that she has to get married. It’s her parent’s suggestion that she do a marriage interview.
-Eri then gets ready to join “Mikoto” in the bath. Harima panics and bubbles start coming out of the water. Eri sees these and hurries out.
-Mikoto beats up Harima later for that. But Mikoto is also quite worried about Eri and her marriage interview. Harima feels that it has nothing to do with him and continues work on his manga. He gets interrupted when Asou comes looking for Mikoto and then when Nakamura comes looking for Eri.
-Eri is ready to return with her butler, but Mikoto drags her off and puts her in worker’s clothes. Mikoto then has Harima take the motorcycle and escape with Eri.

-Harima screwed up big time when he went to Tenma’s room, but it was hilarious at the same time because of his choice of words. “This time it’s your turn” sounds like he’s about to rape her.
-Harima without his glasses and without his hair combed back really does look like a different person. Without being told that it’s Harima, I wouldn’t have known from first glance.
-“Basu Gasu Bakuhatsu” makes the fart joke from the bath scene so much funnier. Those of you who have read the manga know that those words appear on the margins of that page. Shame they didn’t include that in some way here.
-I can’t wait for more Flag Faction!