Chapter 29: Almost Summer Break
The chapter begins with Mio arriving at school. She finds that Taki isn't there, and recalls that he wasn't on his usual train. She's been in a state of confusion since yesterday... She thought that things were going well, then it seemed like he was driving her away. Why? Did she do something to make him angry? But then, it doesn't seem so much like he's angry as like he's in pain... The classroom door opens, and Mio sees that Taki has arrived. She calls out, “Taki-kun...! Good morning...” He repeats back, “Good morning,” but continues past her to his desk. Mio is glad he didn't ignore her, but thinks that she needs to talk to him about yesterday. Maybe they can calmly work it out after they leave... At the end of the day, Mio sees that everyone has left, and Taki is on his way out the door without her. She calls out to him, and he tells her that he wants to do some thinking on his own for a while. While questioning what he may be thinking over, she awkwardly tells him she sees: It's right before exams, and she was thinking she may be wrong to keep having him search for her charm and help her study, and yesterday he seemed not to be feeling well... He tells her, “That's not it. You don't have to force yourself. You don't need to keep searching for the whale, either...” He finally looks back and gives her a sad smile, then pushes forward, evading Mio's attempt to grab his arm. Some students looking on wonder who that was and what just happened, and Mio heads off to look for her charm anyway. Taki slipped right through her fingertips... What did he mean, that she didn't have to force herself? Somehow, it felt like something you might say if you were breaking up. Maybe... could it really...? No, they have to discuss it properly. She tries to call him, but can't get through. She leaves a message that she wants to get together and talk, and sends a text message.
The next morning, Mio finds that Taki hasn't responded. That isn't necessarily unusual for Taki; he may also not have his phone. Has she been completely rejected? She arrives at school, and Yuni and Shii-chan rush over to talk to her. She asks them what's up, and they tell her they just heard. Did she really break up with Taki!? Mio is surprised, and slowly responds, “We... didn't break up...” Yuni tells Shii-chan that she told her it wasn't true, coming from Ishida. She explains that, if it was just Ishida, she would have ignored it, but there were also some first years who said they saw it. Shii-chan adds that they were going to try to hush people up, but it seems to have already pretty well spread. Yuni notes that people will find out it's not true soon enough, and Shii-chan asks Mio, “Speaking of which, Taki isn't with you today?” Mio stays silent, but Yuni spots Taki coming in. He walks sadly by, and Mio stammers, “Good, good morning...” Taki hesitates, but replies, “... Good morning.” He then simply hurries to his shoe locker and on to class. Shii-chan and Yuni fret... Seriously, might it be true?
In class, the other students are gossiping over the break up as Mio comes in. The girls who were talking switch the subject to the bath salts one of them tried, and the others ask how they smelled. Apparently annoyed that they'd been gossiping about Mio, Yuni smells the girl's arm and says, “Yeah, it does stink!” The girl says that isn't true, but the others (and Shii-chan) seem amused. Mio thinks that what they're saying about the break-up is wrong, but she can't flatly deny it, either. As Marui arrives at school, he spots Inoji and Ishida buying drinks at the vending machine and discussing if the rumor of the break-up is confirmed. Marui asks what they're talking about, and Ishida tells him they figured he was absent since he missed all of home room. He explains that he had issues making his train; so, what are they talking about? Ishida stammers a bit, and eventually says, “Well, the truth is...” The scene cuts to Marui suddenly grabbing Shii-chan in the hall. She tells him he startled her – when did he get here, anyway? He asks her to come with him for a minute, and she tells him she's on her way to the washroom. He grabs her and says, “Before that – did they really break up!?” Shii-chan looks at his face and replies, “Marui... you're beaming.” (The pie chart indicates that his facial expression is about two-thirds surprise, one-third joy.) He tries to smack the expression off his face, explaining that he just arrived and that he was surprised... Shii-chan tells him that it seems like they may be arguing over something, but Mio says that they didn't break up. Marui says, “Ah, I see... I guess that's what I expected...” as he walks away. Once he's gone, Shii-chan looks a bit more concerned and thinks that, really, things didn't look like they're going well [between Taki and Mio].
The chapter moves to what appears to be the end of the school day, with Akane chasing after Taki on the way home. She tells him that she's been hearing some weird things about him and Ootaka-san. She explains that one of those guys who was at his house (Ishida) was spreading rumors, and mentally takes note of it when Taki doesn't respond. She changes the subject, asking where Mio is. They aren't together today? Seeing his expression after she asks, Akane goes on, “I didn't think it could be true, but... You didn't break-up, did you?” When there's still no response, she grabs his arm and asks, “Nao! Did you break up, or didn't you!? Which is it!?” He pulls his arm away and shouts, “...I don't even know!” As he runs off, Akane mutters, “Nao... was hostile to me...” Back in the classroom, Mio is looking at Taki's desk, wondering what she should do. Marui walks in and sees her with her hand on Taki's desk. Without saying anything to him, Mio flushes and hurries out of the room. She wonders what she can do, when she hasn't even had the chance to talk. She tries sending a breezy text message, saying, “Exams start tomorrow! Let's do our best!” She tries to concentrate, but can't keep from checking her phone: No new messages. The exam period closes in – Mio realizes that she's been up past 3 AM studying, and tries sending another good night message. And the exam period passes...
The chapter jumps forward to the exams being handed back, and everyone is amazed to see that Marui scored a 52 on his algebra exam. The training camp paid off! Marui boasts that it's his greatest ever score, and Ichii tells him not to be so overjoyed with 52 points. Mio is impressed, and wonders if she did about that well. Ichii does suppose, though, that for someone who had previously been scoring in the single digits, this was an accomplishment, so... continue with this trend! Marui agrees, then Ichii calls out Mio's name. She must really enjoy algebra... she'll be getting her wish to continue studying with him, as he's inviting her to special lessons over summer break. Seeing that she only scored 29 points, Mio is stunned. Yuni and Shii-chan also can't believe it – she scored too low. She needed to score 40, and even after having Taki teach her... Shii-chan tells her to calm down, and Mio looks over at Taki. She blushes, and quickly hides her face in embarrassment. Even after the training camp, and Taki looking over her work, she was the only one who failed. Taki looks concerned, but ends up turning his head away. Of course Taki would be disgusted with her... even Mio is getting disgusted with herself. This time, she's definitely made him think less of her... As Mio lays her head on her desk and mentally beats herself up, Yuni starts to call out that homeroom is over, and Shii-chan tells her to give Mio a little more time. Having failed so much in the past, Marui thinks it's harder from the other side. Annoyed, he wonders what Taki thinks he's doing; something like this should be Taki's time to shine. He's surprised to see that Taki is leaving, and hurries to catch him. He tells him, “Taki! I don't know if you had a fight or something, but that's way too cruel. You heard her test results, right? You're not going to say anything?” Taki doesn't respond, and Marui finishes, “You're just going to leave her when she's that upset?” Thinking about Mio's reaction, Taki just sadly looks at the floor.
Back in the classroom, Yuni wonders about getting together somewhere today. Shii-chan agrees they should; being free from tests, how about treating someone to something special? Yuni cheers, and Shii-chan clarifies that she means Mio. Yuni protests that it's not that big a difference if it's one person or two, and Shii-chan disagrees. As they talk, Mio is touched. But, Mio asks, don't they have volleyball and work today? They remember that they do, and Mio reassures them that it's fine – she has something to do today, too. They part ways outside of school, with Mio thinking that this at least means she can look for her charm. Shii-chan turns back toward the school for her club activities, wondering if the thing Mio had to go do was to talk to Taki. She hears her name called, and sees Inoji approaching her. He asks if she has a minute, and Shii-chan recalls that he told her at the training camp that there was something he wanted to ask her after exams... Meanwhile, at basketball practice, Marui is furiously dribbling the ball. His teammates think they haven't seen him that irritated at practice in a while, and wonder if he failed his exams (as he usually does). Marui tunes them out, still angry that Taki ended up ignoring Mio. It should be up to Taki to comfort her this time. Even if he doesn't seem to want to mediate their reconciliation... Marui thinks that you could deem Taki's actions as basically abandoning his right to act as Mio's boyfriend, couldn't you? As he fumes, Arakawa makes ten failed attempts at stealing the ball from Marui. Once Marui comes to a decision, he tosses the ball to Arakawa and jogs out of the gym. He tells his teammates that, if she asks, to tell the manager that he had some urgent business. Holding the ball, Arakawa figures that Marui must have foreseen a loss to him today. (Akane arrives with the bin full of balls and asks him what he's doing there.)
At the train station, Taki is still thinking about Mio. The train arrives, and people move past him to get on (wondering why Taki isn't boarding). He turns and runs back toward the school to find Mio. From the other direction, Marui spots her, thinking that he made it in time. He sees her talking to some strange girl and wonders who she's with. The girl is telling Mio that, to find happiness, why don't they say a prayer together? She shows Mio how to position her hands, and tells her that she can sense a strong power from her. If she starts studying now, she can reach a higher level of prayer... Marui interrupts by grabbing Mio and declaring, “I made it in time!” Mio starts to question what he's doing, and he grabs Mio's hand, telling her to follow. As he's leading her off, Taki arrives at the other side of the crosswalk, and watches Mio leave with Marui, hand-in-hand.
The chapter begins with Mio arriving at school. She finds that Taki isn't there, and recalls that he wasn't on his usual train. She's been in a state of confusion since yesterday... She thought that things were going well, then it seemed like he was driving her away. Why? Did she do something to make him angry? But then, it doesn't seem so much like he's angry as like he's in pain... The classroom door opens, and Mio sees that Taki has arrived. She calls out, “Taki-kun...! Good morning...” He repeats back, “Good morning,” but continues past her to his desk. Mio is glad he didn't ignore her, but thinks that she needs to talk to him about yesterday. Maybe they can calmly work it out after they leave... At the end of the day, Mio sees that everyone has left, and Taki is on his way out the door without her. She calls out to him, and he tells her that he wants to do some thinking on his own for a while. While questioning what he may be thinking over, she awkwardly tells him she sees: It's right before exams, and she was thinking she may be wrong to keep having him search for her charm and help her study, and yesterday he seemed not to be feeling well... He tells her, “That's not it. You don't have to force yourself. You don't need to keep searching for the whale, either...” He finally looks back and gives her a sad smile, then pushes forward, evading Mio's attempt to grab his arm. Some students looking on wonder who that was and what just happened, and Mio heads off to look for her charm anyway. Taki slipped right through her fingertips... What did he mean, that she didn't have to force herself? Somehow, it felt like something you might say if you were breaking up. Maybe... could it really...? No, they have to discuss it properly. She tries to call him, but can't get through. She leaves a message that she wants to get together and talk, and sends a text message.
The next morning, Mio finds that Taki hasn't responded. That isn't necessarily unusual for Taki; he may also not have his phone. Has she been completely rejected? She arrives at school, and Yuni and Shii-chan rush over to talk to her. She asks them what's up, and they tell her they just heard. Did she really break up with Taki!? Mio is surprised, and slowly responds, “We... didn't break up...” Yuni tells Shii-chan that she told her it wasn't true, coming from Ishida. She explains that, if it was just Ishida, she would have ignored it, but there were also some first years who said they saw it. Shii-chan adds that they were going to try to hush people up, but it seems to have already pretty well spread. Yuni notes that people will find out it's not true soon enough, and Shii-chan asks Mio, “Speaking of which, Taki isn't with you today?” Mio stays silent, but Yuni spots Taki coming in. He walks sadly by, and Mio stammers, “Good, good morning...” Taki hesitates, but replies, “... Good morning.” He then simply hurries to his shoe locker and on to class. Shii-chan and Yuni fret... Seriously, might it be true?
In class, the other students are gossiping over the break up as Mio comes in. The girls who were talking switch the subject to the bath salts one of them tried, and the others ask how they smelled. Apparently annoyed that they'd been gossiping about Mio, Yuni smells the girl's arm and says, “Yeah, it does stink!” The girl says that isn't true, but the others (and Shii-chan) seem amused. Mio thinks that what they're saying about the break-up is wrong, but she can't flatly deny it, either. As Marui arrives at school, he spots Inoji and Ishida buying drinks at the vending machine and discussing if the rumor of the break-up is confirmed. Marui asks what they're talking about, and Ishida tells him they figured he was absent since he missed all of home room. He explains that he had issues making his train; so, what are they talking about? Ishida stammers a bit, and eventually says, “Well, the truth is...” The scene cuts to Marui suddenly grabbing Shii-chan in the hall. She tells him he startled her – when did he get here, anyway? He asks her to come with him for a minute, and she tells him she's on her way to the washroom. He grabs her and says, “Before that – did they really break up!?” Shii-chan looks at his face and replies, “Marui... you're beaming.” (The pie chart indicates that his facial expression is about two-thirds surprise, one-third joy.) He tries to smack the expression off his face, explaining that he just arrived and that he was surprised... Shii-chan tells him that it seems like they may be arguing over something, but Mio says that they didn't break up. Marui says, “Ah, I see... I guess that's what I expected...” as he walks away. Once he's gone, Shii-chan looks a bit more concerned and thinks that, really, things didn't look like they're going well [between Taki and Mio].
The chapter moves to what appears to be the end of the school day, with Akane chasing after Taki on the way home. She tells him that she's been hearing some weird things about him and Ootaka-san. She explains that one of those guys who was at his house (Ishida) was spreading rumors, and mentally takes note of it when Taki doesn't respond. She changes the subject, asking where Mio is. They aren't together today? Seeing his expression after she asks, Akane goes on, “I didn't think it could be true, but... You didn't break-up, did you?” When there's still no response, she grabs his arm and asks, “Nao! Did you break up, or didn't you!? Which is it!?” He pulls his arm away and shouts, “...I don't even know!” As he runs off, Akane mutters, “Nao... was hostile to me...” Back in the classroom, Mio is looking at Taki's desk, wondering what she should do. Marui walks in and sees her with her hand on Taki's desk. Without saying anything to him, Mio flushes and hurries out of the room. She wonders what she can do, when she hasn't even had the chance to talk. She tries sending a breezy text message, saying, “Exams start tomorrow! Let's do our best!” She tries to concentrate, but can't keep from checking her phone: No new messages. The exam period closes in – Mio realizes that she's been up past 3 AM studying, and tries sending another good night message. And the exam period passes...
The chapter jumps forward to the exams being handed back, and everyone is amazed to see that Marui scored a 52 on his algebra exam. The training camp paid off! Marui boasts that it's his greatest ever score, and Ichii tells him not to be so overjoyed with 52 points. Mio is impressed, and wonders if she did about that well. Ichii does suppose, though, that for someone who had previously been scoring in the single digits, this was an accomplishment, so... continue with this trend! Marui agrees, then Ichii calls out Mio's name. She must really enjoy algebra... she'll be getting her wish to continue studying with him, as he's inviting her to special lessons over summer break. Seeing that she only scored 29 points, Mio is stunned. Yuni and Shii-chan also can't believe it – she scored too low. She needed to score 40, and even after having Taki teach her... Shii-chan tells her to calm down, and Mio looks over at Taki. She blushes, and quickly hides her face in embarrassment. Even after the training camp, and Taki looking over her work, she was the only one who failed. Taki looks concerned, but ends up turning his head away. Of course Taki would be disgusted with her... even Mio is getting disgusted with herself. This time, she's definitely made him think less of her... As Mio lays her head on her desk and mentally beats herself up, Yuni starts to call out that homeroom is over, and Shii-chan tells her to give Mio a little more time. Having failed so much in the past, Marui thinks it's harder from the other side. Annoyed, he wonders what Taki thinks he's doing; something like this should be Taki's time to shine. He's surprised to see that Taki is leaving, and hurries to catch him. He tells him, “Taki! I don't know if you had a fight or something, but that's way too cruel. You heard her test results, right? You're not going to say anything?” Taki doesn't respond, and Marui finishes, “You're just going to leave her when she's that upset?” Thinking about Mio's reaction, Taki just sadly looks at the floor.
Back in the classroom, Yuni wonders about getting together somewhere today. Shii-chan agrees they should; being free from tests, how about treating someone to something special? Yuni cheers, and Shii-chan clarifies that she means Mio. Yuni protests that it's not that big a difference if it's one person or two, and Shii-chan disagrees. As they talk, Mio is touched. But, Mio asks, don't they have volleyball and work today? They remember that they do, and Mio reassures them that it's fine – she has something to do today, too. They part ways outside of school, with Mio thinking that this at least means she can look for her charm. Shii-chan turns back toward the school for her club activities, wondering if the thing Mio had to go do was to talk to Taki. She hears her name called, and sees Inoji approaching her. He asks if she has a minute, and Shii-chan recalls that he told her at the training camp that there was something he wanted to ask her after exams... Meanwhile, at basketball practice, Marui is furiously dribbling the ball. His teammates think they haven't seen him that irritated at practice in a while, and wonder if he failed his exams (as he usually does). Marui tunes them out, still angry that Taki ended up ignoring Mio. It should be up to Taki to comfort her this time. Even if he doesn't seem to want to mediate their reconciliation... Marui thinks that you could deem Taki's actions as basically abandoning his right to act as Mio's boyfriend, couldn't you? As he fumes, Arakawa makes ten failed attempts at stealing the ball from Marui. Once Marui comes to a decision, he tosses the ball to Arakawa and jogs out of the gym. He tells his teammates that, if she asks, to tell the manager that he had some urgent business. Holding the ball, Arakawa figures that Marui must have foreseen a loss to him today. (Akane arrives with the bin full of balls and asks him what he's doing there.)
At the train station, Taki is still thinking about Mio. The train arrives, and people move past him to get on (wondering why Taki isn't boarding). He turns and runs back toward the school to find Mio. From the other direction, Marui spots her, thinking that he made it in time. He sees her talking to some strange girl and wonders who she's with. The girl is telling Mio that, to find happiness, why don't they say a prayer together? She shows Mio how to position her hands, and tells her that she can sense a strong power from her. If she starts studying now, she can reach a higher level of prayer... Marui interrupts by grabbing Mio and declaring, “I made it in time!” Mio starts to question what he's doing, and he grabs Mio's hand, telling her to follow. As he's leading her off, Taki arrives at the other side of the crosswalk, and watches Mio leave with Marui, hand-in-hand.
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