Hyouka
氷菓
TV · Spring 2012 · 22 episodes · 26 min · Finished · Kyoto Animation
MysteryRomanceSlice of Life
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氷菓
TV · Spring 2012 · 22 episodes · 26 min · Finished · Kyoto Animation
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Energy-conservative high school student Houtarou Oreki ends up with more than he bargained for when he signs up for the Classic Literature Club at his sister's behest—especially when he realizes how deep-rooted the club's history really is. Begrudgingly, Oreki is dragged into an investigation concerning the 45-year-old mystery that surrounds the club room. Accompanied by his fellow club members, the knowledgeable Satoshi Fukube, the stern but benign Mayaka Ibara, and the ever-curious Eru Chitanda, Oreki must combat deadlines and lack of information with resourcefulness and hidden talent, in order to not only find the truth buried beneath the dust of works created years before them, but of other side cases as well. Based on the award-winning Koten-bu light novel series, and directed by Yasuhiro Takemoto of Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu, Hyouka shows that normal life can be full of small mysteries, be it family history, a student film, or even the withered flowers that make up a ghost story. (Source: MAL Rewrite)
1Apr 21, 2012 · 25 min
At the request of his older sister, Houtarou Oreki goes to join the Classic Literature Club upon entering high school to stop it from being disbanded. Upon arriving there, he meets another member, Eru Chitanda, who becomes curious as to how she got locked in the clubroom. After Houtarou's habit of thinking things through to the end helps him solve the mystery, Houtarou's classmate, Satoshi Fukube, also decides to join the club. The next day, the club investigates a mystery involving a recruitment poster for a secret club. As they leave that day, Houtarou reveals to Satoshi that he made the mystery up as it would've been too much effort to solve another mystery they had been discussing had Eru caught wind of it.
2Apr 28, 2012 · 25 min
Mayaka Ibara is introduced, Houtarou solves another mystery regarding a book borrowed from the library regularly for a short amount of time, as it is actually used by the Art Club for drawings. As they could not find the past anthologies from the Classic Literature Club in the library, disappointing Eru, who wants to make an anthology for the upcoming Culture Festival. Houtarou is wakened by Eru's phone call the next day, as he meet up with her in a cafe, she admits having a confession to make.
3May 3, 2012 · 25 min
Eru tells Houtarou about a past memory in which her late uncle told her something about the Classics Club that ended in her being distressed, with her uncle strangely not trying to calm her down at all. Wanting to remember what it was, she asks Houtarou for help and he somewhat agrees, making moves to recover the past anthologies to find a lead to uncovering the mystery.
4May 12, 2012 · 25 min
The club organised a meet-up to discuss Eru's uncle's mystery, at Eru's house, each member, consisting of Eru, Houtarou, Satoshi and Mayaka, presents their summary of research and their theories. When it is Houtarou's turn, he asked to use the toilet, then piece together his theory from all the member's presentation. He explains that Eru's uncle and other students might have negotiated with the teachers to not cut short the period of the Culture Festival, but the price is his expulsion from the school. As the mystery is solved all members left, Eru still wonders why she cried at her uncle's words.
5May 19, 2012 · 25 min
Houtarou realizes there are still holes in his theory through the phone conversation with his sister. He then confronts the school librarian, Kouriyama Youko being her maiden name and being present at the time of the incident involving Eru's uncle. She reveals that Eru's uncle was forced onto responsibility for the student's strike for shortening of the Culture Festival and thus is completely not of his will to be expelled. His final wish is to name the Classic Club anthologies as "Hyouka" which in translation to English reveals it to be "Ice cream" which then is another pun, his true intention is delivering the message "I scream". Telling the future Classic Club members to be strong as he is forcibly expelled from his beloved Culture Festival. Eru cried at the message, remembering that her question for her uncle on that day was the true meaning of "Hyouka". The next day, the Classics Club began planning for their anthology.
6May 26, 2012 · 25 min
Houtarou is in class when he hears raised voices coming from another classroom, recognizing one of them as Eru’s. Later on in the clubroom when everyone talks about how Eru never gets angry, Houtarou recalls her outburst during class and accidentally triggers her curiosity, as she wonders why the teacher would have mistaken another class for hers.
7Jun 2, 2012 · 25 min
The four Classic Club members go on an Onsen trip, which Eru plans. They stay in an inn that belongs to Mayaka's relatives. They are greeted by Mayaki's cousins, Rie (older) and Kayo and their family. Eru mentions that she too wishes for a sibling. After having a dip in the Onsen, Houtarou gets dizzy and is helped back to the inn by Satoshi. Later, everyone (except Houtarou, who is still feeling sick) start telling ghost stories. Rie tells a story about a ghost in the inn they are in. The next morning, during breakfast, Mayaki and Eru claim that they saw the ghost. Houtarou and Eru go about finding the cause, which turn out to be a yukata. While returning from another trip to the onsen, Houtarou explains to Eru that Kayo wore Rie's yukata to the summer festival that day, without anyone knowing, since Rie is pretty conservative about her things. And since the yukata got wet in the rain when Kayo was out, she hung the yukata to dry in the room where the rumored ghost resides, so that the rest of the family would not find out about it. Eru becomes emotional thinking that Rie would not even share her yukata with her own sister, but then, they see Rie carrying a hurt Kayo piggy back, and becomes happy again.
8Jun 9, 2012 · 25 min
The episode starts out with a person texting a friend of his/her about what he/she can do for an arrangement that could not be fulfilled by this friend. The person finishes texting and the scene goes onto someone chatting. This person is asking a senpai on the chat whether or not the senapi can do the job in place of the person and the person's friend. The senpai is unable to, but the senpai recommends someone else to ask. "L", the one recommended by the senpai, comes on and hears the person's story. The person invites L to come to a meeting place, preferably bringing three friends, knowing that L is in the Classics club. Satoshi Fukube and Houtarou Oreki are on their way to school, as they see a streamer being hung along the school building. Satoshi jokes about how he would like to have some talent to let him reach such achievements, but says it's impossible. Houtarou notes that he has his "database", but Satoshi says that he may have such a talent, but it won't give him the title of "Quiz King". Houtarou soon argues that living such a talent-filled life is not all flowers and sunshine for the geniuses. He states, those with such talent can't live a normal life like them, upon hearing this, Satoshi comments that Houtarou would probably be unable to live the normal life that he has stated, adding that Satoshi Fukube would be a man of no talents but he would withhold his opinion on Houtarou. Houtarou tells Satoshi that he has terrible observational skills for not agreeing that Houtarou is living a normal life. They then hurry so they can arrive at the meeting with Mayaka in time, but they stll end up being late and get scolded at by Mayaka. Eru is also late, and Satoshi is frustrated at the difference in the treatment of Mayaka to Eru and them. Eru comes in, apologizing. But she is filled with excitement, as she asks the club members go to a screening. Class 2-F is screening a mystery movie for their cultural fest event, and a member of the class invited Eru to come and watch it. She was late for the meeting of the Classics Club due to her discussion with the aforementioned member of class 2-F. The four then head for the Audio Visual Room where the screening will be. As they enter, they are greeted by Fuyumi Irisu, the class member who invited Eru. After Eru finished introducing the members of her club, Fuyumi introduces herself. Satoshi then talks to her after she stated her name, as he remembers the way she amazingly handled a club dispute during the Cultural Festival Committee Meeting earlier in the year. Satoshi is then disappointed when she states doesn't recollect his presence at that meeting. Mayaka asks Eru what her relation with Fuyumi is, and Eru responds that her family has known Fuyumi's family for a long time. Fuyumi has also helped her a lot during her younger days. Fuyumi wished for Eru and her friends to watch the movie so that she can receive some honest opinions on it. Houtarou states that he does not see the reason in watching the movie if they are only watching, he then asks if it's for advertisement, but Fuyumi answers that it would be more efficient for them to just watch it for now. Houtarou agrees upon this response. As she goes off to start the movie, she explains that the movie still has no title, only having the title as "Mystery" for now. She says "Good luck," to the four, which makes Houtarou suspicious. After they finished watching it, it is revealed that the movie is incomplete and that the real reason for them being asked to watch it was for them to try to guess the identity of the culprit behind the crime in the movie due to the fact that scriptwriter fell ill before the script was finished. After Houtarou finally agreed to help Irisu, they left the Audio Visual Room. While walking home together, Satoshi explains to them that Irisu is quite famous and that her family runs the general hospital that is near their school. He also informs them that Irisu has earned the nickname "The Empress" since the people around her end up doing things for her. He also mentions that they should also have their own symbols. Taken from tarot cards, Satoshi states Mayaka's symbol would be Justice, Magician for himself, Fool for Eru, and Strength for Houtarou. The next day, Houtarou is about to go to school but suddenly goes back inside the house because it is too hot outside. To his disappointment, Eru came to his house in order to make sure that he goes to school that day. After arriving at the Clubroom, Eru tells them that they will be waiting for a senpai that will lead them to classroom 2-F to meet the amateur detectives of the class in orderfor them to guess the identity of the criminal in the movie and make an ending for the story. They are led to classroom 2-F by Kurako Eba, the best friend of Houngou (the scriptwriter who fell ill).
9Jun 17, 2012 · 25 min
After talking with the members behind the production of the film by Fuyumi Irisu's class, other than the acting cast, Houtarou Oreki and the other members of the Classics Club are given to listen to each production member's theory of what the ending of the unfinished film is supposed to be. Since the script-writer fell ill before the filming was complete, the group could not continue filming. To make interviewing of each member easy, Kurako Eba, one member of the class who did the film will invite, in all, the three members one at a time. After a small introduction, each member will give their theory and reasons, thereafter Houtarou, Satoshi, Mayaka and Eru will give their counter of agreement or objection.
10Jun 23, 2012 · 25 min
Houtarou Oreki was invited by Fuyumi Irisu for some tea. At the restaurant, Fuyumi questions about the theories of here fellow three members of the movie production, whether their theories were correct or not. Houtarou tells her all of them were not good. She then calmly asks what were wrong, which was when Houtarou started to explain deeply. When finished, after hearing Houtarou's explanation, Fuyumi asks who rejected all of these theories. Houtarou answers that he did. Fuyumi talks about how he, when they first met, said not to expect much from him. Yet, he was the one to take down and burry all of the theories, which was up to Fuyumi's expectations indeed. She knew from the start that the three members who gave their theories were not of the right level, though she wouldn't say that they are each incompetent. Each of them have their own talent and this situation did not allow them to be of much use. Without Houtarou, she may have chosen one of the three's and possibly make a failure out of the movie. There was one person Fuyumi could only count on. She heard of this individual from three of her people: Eru Chitanda, a person not from the school, and Masashi Tougaito. She was convinced that this one person could be the detective for the film. It was Houtarou she was seeking from the start, not the Classics club. She realizes that he has great talent, and is a special person. After a short silence, Fuyumi asks for his help again, but Houtarou tells her that he doesn't have any such talent. He simply says he was lucky. Though Fuyumi thought to herself that this answer was irritating, she starts to talk about a small tale of a bench member of the Track team. This member practiced day after day to become a regular on the team, yet she wasn't able to since there were so many more talented members. There was even one member who was called a prodigy, and her skills compared to the bench member's skills was like that of heaven and earth. She even won a MVP medal for her invaluability to the team, and when interviewed about how she became this good, she simply answered "I was just lucky". Fuyumi asks Houtarou for his opinion on how hurt the bench member was upon hearing this comment. In some guilt, Houtarou stays silent as Fuyumi tells him that people has to relies hteir talents, or else others will think they are fools for trying. In Houtarou's mind, he wonders if he is special, if he's seeing himself for who he is. He wonders if he can trust her, but he comes to a certain realization. After giving a deep sigh, Houtarou gives his reply. The next day, Houtarou and Satoshi Fukube are on their way to school during a holiday. Satoshi sees it quite interesting that he is going there voluntarily, and wonders if Houtarou has some business to take care of. Houtarou tells him he does not a reason, but Satoshi sees it that it is out of his character to do this kind of activity. Houtarou tells him that Fuyumi told him to find out who is the murder in the movie, which Satoshi is amazed that's he's actually doing this. Houtarou makes the excuse that he himself is a passionate and honorable man, which is completelt different from his usual motto. Satoshi wonders if Eru converted Houtarou, but he replies that she didn't.
11Jul 1, 2012 · 25 min
Even Mayaka tells Houtarou how the movie was intriguing, she also tells him about the missing prop, which was the rope. Houtarou does remember it being mentioned, and makes an excuse that it could have been an unnecessary item. But Mayaka doesn't buy it, since it's a fact that story-writer Hongou wanted the ropes to be part of the story so badly. Houtarou becomes slightly dismayed by this truth, but Mayaka tries not to make things more complicated by saying that she liked his idea. Even so, she still thinks that all the clues didn't fit his solution. Houtarou agrees, and Mayaka heads to the Manga Society. As Houtarou walks out of the screening room, he wonders why he had forgotten this crucial element, whether if he subconsciously ignored or had changed the questions around to fit his answers. As he walk across the school bridge to the next school building, Houtarou doesn't notice that someone is calling from behind, as he is in deep thought. When the person who's behind him taps his shoulder, Houtarou surprisingly looks back, only to see Satoshi. Satoshi wonders what was wrong, but he ignors it and asked what he wanted from him. Satoshi has a question he wants to ask, while Houtarou takes note that it seems Satoshi doesn't want to talk about this around neither Mayaka or Eru. Satoshi go on to asking his question, asking whether or not the solution Hōtarō thought of was supposed to be Hongou's idea, or just Houtarou's own idea. When Houtarou answers that it was supposed to be Hongou's idea, Satoshi is disappointed. He knows very that the solution couldn't have been Hongou's intentional idea. Houtarou worries that there were some inconsistencies he had missed, but Satoshi says that there weren't, since he thinks the ending was true interesting. He then asks Houtarou what a "narrative trick" is. He answers that it is a story that tricks the reader with the way the story is presented, exactly like the solution Houtarou had thought of. Yet, Hongou, who had no background in the mystery genre, studied books of Sherlock Holmes only, and none of the Holmes mysteries ever use the narrative trick. The use of narrative tricks came during the age of Agatha Christie, which was in the 20th century, after the character Holmes was created. Satoshi does not feel that Hongou was someone who read Christie's mysteries. Because he liked the movie ending, Satoshi would have been happy if Houtarou admitted that the ending was his. But, since Houtarou claimed it was supposed to be Hongou's idea, Satoshi believes Houtarou is wrong. Houtarou attempts to make an excuse that Hongou may have read or watched some kind of mystery based book or movie, but Satoshi ignores this and tells him if he believes this excuse is "right", then he'll just go along with it. though seemingly disappointed, Satoshi takes his leave, since he has said what he wanted to say.
12Jul 7, 2012 · 25 min
The Kanya festival is approaching, and it is already the day before. All four members of the Classics Club are unable to sleep from the anticipation of this festival. Eru takes it up a notch and goes to a shrine to pray for a good luck at the festival. Houtarou gets ready to head for school at the front door, which is when his sister says good morning. She feels that he will face some trouble of the festival, which he does not believe. She reasons that it is a tradition that the Classics Club always faces some kind of trouble during the festival, which Houtarou doesn't like the sound of it. He tells Tomoe that if she is so worried about this "tradition", she should give him some kind of lucky charm. In quick response, she tosses something towards Houtarou. He attempts to catch it but fails. The item is a fountain pen, but as her sister then explains, it is out of ink and also has a broken tip. He attempts to complain to her about how he's being treated like a trash can, but Tomoe tells him that he'll be late if he doesn't leave now. As Houtarou leaves, Tomoe states that she might come to the festival if she's ever bored, which Houtarou doesn't want her to do.
13Jul 15, 2012 · 25 min
With the Kanya in full works, it is time for the Quiz Trial 7. With Satoshi, who is still wearing his Saturn outfit, participating in it, he utilizes his "database" to show who is the tru king of trivia. The first part is easy, where all the participants has to either stand one side of a given line, with one side meaning 'true', and the other 'false'. When one of the referees give a trivia, the participants takes their guess, and when the times up, the answer is revealed. Houtarou, Eru and Mayaka are all able to hear the event going from where they are stationed. Satoshi is able to make it to the final four, where the remaining four will be moved to a buzzer game instead of the true-false game. Before Satoshi goes up to his designated buzzered, one other participant calls to him. Satoshi recognize that this person is "Tani-kun" from the Go club. Before they can talk about something interesting that happened in the Go club, Satoshi has to go and introduce himself to the crowd. In this introduction, with the help of the distinguished Saturn outfit, he is able to advertise the Classics club by stating that he is represting this club. With the club being one unfamiliar to many, the crowd is drawn in by Satoshi's introduction. To make this advertisement more interesting, he tells the crowd that the club was able to unravel a great mystery of the Kanya Festival. When the announcer asks what this mystery is, all Satoshi answers is that it's a mystery of 45 years ago and if anyone is interested, they should purchase a copy of "Hyouka". After some fancy twirls, Satoshi feels fulfilled that he was able to advertise the anthology "Hyouka".
14Jul 22, 2012 · 25 min
Satoshi, Eru, and Mayaka plan to enter their next contest, the Cooking Contest, as part of their plan to advertise the Classics Club. However, Mayaka is forced to finish advertisements for the Manga club before she can go to the competition, forcing Eru and Satoshi to cover the first two parts of the competition. Satoshi does reasonably, and Eru does excellent, but Eru accidentally uses most of the allotted ingredients. When Mayaka arrives late to do her part of the competition, she finds that she does not have enough ingredients to make any dishes. However, Houtarou calls Satoshi over to give the team a bag of flour, which he received in a trade for an anthology sale. With the rules permitting outside ingredients to be brought in, this last ingredient allows Mayaka to cook a dish just in time. While Mayaka is cooking, however, she finds that the ladle at her station is missing. The Cooking Club give her another one, but Eru later discovers that a note is left at the station, signifying that the mysterious thief has struck again.
15Jul 29, 2012 · 25 min
The Classics Club come up with the idea to catch the "Juumonji" thief by using Houtarou's skills. Doing so will advertise the Classics Club even further. Houtarou quickly figures out that the clubs affected by the thefts have been in alphabetical order (according to Japanese hiragana alphabet). They also suspect that the items stolen also follow an alphabetical order. Finally, Houtarou tells the group to stop reading Juumonji as a name; doing so reveals that Juumonji actually stands for "ten letters". Following this order reveals that the Classics Club will be targeted next.
16Aug 4, 2012 · 25 min
Houtarou’s sister Tomoe visits the school culture festival, and after purchasing an anthology from her brother, trades her copy of Yube ni wa Mukuro ni for the mirror he had obtained earlier. When Eru sees the manga, she cannot help but notice the similarity of its art to one of the posters in the halls. Eru meets Mayaka afterwards, who confirms that the manga and poster’s artist are one and the same. Both curious as to who the artist is, they eventually learn that it is none other than the student council president – Kugayama Muneyoshi. The four Classics Club members meet back up briefly to discuss their findings, before Houtarou decides to speak with Satoshi privately about his new suspicions. Reviewing the previous events and facts, Houtarou further suggests that the current happenings, mimicking the events in Christie’s ABC murders, were actually announced in Yube ni wa Mukuro ni.
17Aug 12, 2012 · 25 min
After Eru’s successful radio advertisement, several members of the student body gather at the Classics clubroom. In shocking fashion, however, Juumyonji seems to outdo even the brilliant Classics Club. This isn’t fully detrimental to the club, however, as most all of the anthologies are sold during the exciting event. Mayaka meets Satoshi sometime afterwards, guessing that he wanted to beat Houtarou. While this isn’t quite the case, this leads Satoshi to remember what he had witnessed earlier. Houtarou had actually found out the identity of Juumyonji.
18Aug 19, 2012 · 25 min
Houtarou, to the Classic Literature Club's surprise and concern, becomes interested in his past teacher's changed feeling towards helicopters and his apparent survival of three lightning strikes. Eru is curious about Houtarou's interest and tags along with him to do some research at the city library. Houtarou remembers his sister telling him that the weather across the mountains is quite different from that of the city, meaning that the lightning story is plausible, though unlikely. He then confirms through newspaper articles that his teacher often climbed the mountains and was present during a storm-involved incident, in which the rescue helicopters were unable to come for him. He concludes that his teacher was concerned about the weather over the mountains, and whether the helicopter could make its way through. Houtarou then says that people must be considerate around people like him. Eru is stunned by what Houtarou had said, but is unable to put her feelings into words. The mystery solved, Eru returns home. Houtarou thinks about how Eru inconvenienced herself to help him out of her free will, and says to himself that he owes her for that.
19Aug 26, 2012 · 25 min
Houtarou challenges Eru to come up with a random mystery for him to solve in order to prove that a theory can be created out of anything and that Eru can't rely on Houtarou about everything she ponders. After it's announced on the school's intercom, Eru settles on having Houtarou figure out why students who went to a local stationary store are being called into the staff room. Much to Houtarou's discomfort, Eru takes the "game" too seriously, and she becomes dissatisfied with the results. Remembering a news flyer posted on a bulletin board in the school, Houtarou deduces that students are being called to the staff room in order to help authorities find the source of a counterfeit 10,000 yen bill given to the clerks at the stationary store. The theory seems perfect, and Eru is impressed and speechless. However, both she and Houtarou forget why they came up with the game in the first place. The next morning, Houtarou sees in the newspaper that the culprits of the counterfeiting scheme have been apprehended, confirming the accuracy of Houtarou's mock theory.
20Sep 2, 2012 · 25 min
Houtarou is awoken by a call from Eru, asking if he would accompany her to the Arekusu Shrine for New Years Eve, mentioning that Satoshi and Mayaka would be there and that she planned on showing off her kimono. When the two arrive at the shrine, Eru offers Kaho Juumonji a gift from her father, during which Eru and Kaho tease Houtarou for his awkwardness. Mayaka, working at the lost and found station, gives Eru and Houtarou fortunes; Eru is elated by her extremely positive fortune, but is more interested in Houtarou's rare "Misfortune" draw. Mayaka tells them that Satoshi went home for a while to watch a drama (which Houtarou had watched earlier in the day). Eru and Houtarou volunteer to retrieve sake lees from the shrine warehouse, but the pair mistakenly search a shed instead and are locked in from the outside. Since she's representing her father and the regulars at the shrine would recognize her, Eru requests that Houtarou not call for help, as the wrong person could get the wrong idea from their situation. Braving the cold, Houtarou works out a way to get Mayaka's attention: They drop Eru's handkerchief out of the shed, in hopes that it'll reach Mayaka at her station. It does reach her, but Mayaka is distracted by Satoshi's return. Remembering that Satoshi had watched the same drama he had, Houtarou throws out Eru's purse. Mayaka recognizes it and shows Satoshi, who immediately spots the string that Houtarou had tied around it - a signal from the drama that its "contents are trapped". Satoshi rushes to the shed and rescues Eru and the freezing Houtarou, but not before Eru lets out a sneeze, having been left out in the cold for too long.
21Sep 9, 2012 · 25 min
During Valentine's Day of their last year of junior high, Mayaka's attempt to get Satoshi to accept her feelings fails, which Satoshi attributes on the quality of the chocolate she made. This year, she asks for Eru's help to make an even better chocolate than the last. Meanwhile, Houtarou runs into Satoshi at a city arcade, and contemplates on the fact that Satoshi seems to have lost his competitiveness from the year before. While shopping for materials, Mayaka asks Eru if she likes anybody; Eru replies and the answer seems to surprise Mayaka, but the answer itself isn't heard. On Valentine's Day, Eru tells Houtarou that the chocolate project was a success, and begins to explain to him that her family doesn't usually exchange presents with people they're close to, subsequently implying that she might have wished to give Houtarou something for Valentine's. Because Mayaka had to stay with the Manga Society, she leaves the chocolates in the clubroom with Eru, but a distressed Eru comes to Houtarou with Satoshi, telling him that while she had left the room, the chocolate had been stolen. Houtarou attempts to figure out who would have stolen it, but he already has an idea. Mayaka arrives at the clubroom, only to be discouraged by the disappearance of the chocolate, and she goes home. After Eru outbursts at him, Houtarou tells her to go home, and that he believes a member of the Astronomy Club had stolen it. Alone, he confronts Satoshi, proving that he is the culprit; Though Satoshi admits to it, Houtarou demands that he explain why. Satoshi explains that, though he does want to be with Mayaka, he had stopped becoming obsessed with everything, and couldn't risk becoming obsessed with her. Houtarou is still angry that he had hurt Eru in the process, but when Satoshi admits that his plans aren't as successful as Houtarou's, Houtarou acknowledges that he can't understand him. It is revealed that earlier, Eru had caught up to Mayaka, who admitted that she knew Satoshi had stolen it, afraid of giving her an answer, and tells Eru that Houtarou lied to protect him. Eru realized that Houtarou might have lied for her sake as well. Later that night, she thanks Houtarou for his help, and Satoshi calls Mayaka, telling her that he has something to speak to her about.
22Sep 16, 2012 · 25 min
Eru asks Houtarou to be an umbrella carrier for her during this year's Doll Festival. Houtarou follows the directions given to him, but is stopped by impending construction on a small bridge, though the worker lets him go through. When he arrives, he is greeted rudely by the busy staff, but upon identifying him, they accept him and apologize for the trouble of being an outsider. When Houtarou confirms that the nearby bridge is under construction, the staff is distraught; The procession was to walk over that bridge. A young man with brown hair suggests that they pass through the next bridge. The ceremony begins. Outside, Fuyumi Irisu is revealed to be the Emperor, and Eru appears next to her. Houtarou is caught off-guard by her full garb and extensive make-up, and is distracted during the procession, thinking to himself that he's curious and wants to see her face again. At the end, he speaks to Satoshi and Mayaka, who thanks him for his exploits during Valentine's Day. At the end of the day, Eru greets him with a new mystery: Who allowed the bridge construction to take place? Both of them decide that it was the young man with brown hair, who Eru remembers was interested in photography, and he might have wanted to have a better shot from his new angle. Eru and Houtarou walk home, but Eru stops to tell him that she decided to take science classes in order to help discover ways to help grow crops more efficiently. She had given up on her social skills since the festival, unlike Houtarou, who decided to take humanities classes. Eru explains that she doesn't see much potential for growth in the town, but says that, no matter what, she would always return to it, and says that she had wanted Houtarou to see that part of her. Houtarou asks her if she would want him to be the social side of her that she had abandoned, and Eru is shocked by the proposal, knowing what he had meant by the question; However, it turns out that Houtarou had just been daydreaming, and fails to actually say anything to her. Eru happily exclaims that spring has arrived, and the wind blows through the nearby cherry blossom trees. The two smile at each other under the sunset and the falling petals as a new chapter of their lives begins.