Anyway, Mii and Yayoi (in their Heidi and Klara get-ups) are rescued by the newest animal in Mii’s private zoo, Shishio (reminder: shishi = lion), clearly here to stir up trouble in the romance department. That’s not a spoiler okay. It’s just obvious. And if he can make Ookami jealous, I’m all in, man.
Yayoi forces him to accept one tenth of the amount in her wallet, which is 10,000 yen haha what. So she just walks around with 100,000 yen in her pocket (over a 1000 dollars). THAT’S SMART. Anyway, Shishio then decides to use his new funds to buy them both some tea, after realizing that they’re actually high school students and not middle schoolers, as he’d first thought. Mii is totally insulted and would rather just leave, but Yayoi’s all WE’D LOVE TO, so Mii shuffles along anyway.
Pretty much everyone they meet along the way call out a greeting when they see Shishio, and Mii concludes that he’s the exact type of person she hates (/not good at dealing with); he’s stylish, popular, good at fighting, and his greeting of choice is, “Weeey”. (LMAO WHAT. That’s adorable.) She guesses his age must be about the same as Tora and Ookami’s.
They arrive at a tea shop and Yayoi orders some fancy tea. Mii asks Shishio if Shishio is his name (rather than nickname), and he says yep, explaining that it’s written using the kanji for lion plus the kanji for male animal. So... Male Lion. LOL @ your parents. Yayoi’s like, “Tiger, wolf and lion... the carnivore set is complete.” Hahah.
A couple of girls come into the shop, also acquaintances of Shishio. One of them’s spilled something on her top, and they start talking about how there’s some fruit or something that’s supposed to remove stains, but they can’t remember which, so Mii pipes up to say that it’s daikon. She immediately regrets saying anything, either because she doesn’t want to attract attention, or because it’s kinda uncool knowing the details of folk remedies, I’m not sure. Anyway, they try it out and then they’re totally amazed when it works and Mii’s hero of the day. Along with Shishio because he saved them from evil earlier, I guess.
Mii’s caught Shishio’s interest by now (the way he looks at her makes her uncomfortable), and he asks if she was brought up by her grandmother or something. When she says yes, he starts pulling out various stuff (from who knows where), asking what they’re called, and Mii answers with their old-fashioned names. The two girls start laughing hysterically, but Mii continues flatly that she usually calls them what everyone else calls them, she just thought they’d be amused if she gave the old terms instead, so she did it on purpose for their sake. Yayoi comments in the awkward silence that follows, that the Japanese language sure is beautiful...
Mii and Yayoi take their leave, and the girls grumble that Mii gave off a bad vibe. Shishio says that’s obviously because they laughed at her like that, and personally he finds her interesting.
Outside, Mii complains at being made fun of, and Yayoi’s all, THEY MADE FUN OF YOU?! Because she’s clearly blind to such things.
And when Mii gets back to her grandmother’s restaurant, Ookami is there, yaaay. He and her grandmother both get a shock from her outfit, her gran wondering if she actually walked around outside like that, but Mii is too tired to react much and just says she’ll change and then she’ll help out. She adds, “Oh, Ookami, you’re here?” And Ookami’s like, “It’s not ‘oh, you’re here?’, it’s, ‘welcome, honoured customer’.” So Mii’s like, “Yeah, yeah, welcome,” but he’s still not happy, saying it pisses him off hearing it when she’s wearing such a weird outfit. Geez, you’re hard to please.
Mii’s grandmother heads out for a bit, leaving the shop to Mii (even though she hasn’t changed yet), and Mii asks about Tora again, wondering when he’ll come back to school (summer vacation ends tomorrow). Ookami says it’ll be a couple of weeks.
Mii regrets telling Tora she likes him. The look of surprise on his face is burned into her memory. She asks Ookami if Tora’s mentioned anything, and then she’s disappointed when he says no. Ookami gets all stern, calling her an idiot, saying he told her Tora’s used to stuff like that, told her she should just give up on him. Hearing that from her is only going to trouble him, ‘cause he’ll feel bad that he can’t give her the kind of answer she wants.
Realizing she might be causing Tora worry, Mii starts crying, and Ookami jumps backwards in horror hahaha. He panics, trying to make her stop crying by TELLING her to stop crying (useless), while she goes on about how love is just the sort of thing that you can’t control, and even though she hadn’t meant to say anything at the time, she couldn’t have gone on forever not saying anything either, and also like, even though you know you’re gonna lose the war, you still want to get in at least one good attack, right? (Ookami’s just jumps between, I see, huh, okay, I don’t even know what you mean by that and so on, hahah) And then Mii yells, “You like Tora too, right? You understand how I feel, right?!” because she insists on misunderstanding their relationship pfft.
Ignoring his denials, she says she’s jealous of him and wishes she could be him. He says he’s got it rough too, and Mii’s all, “because Tora won’t return your love?” And Ookami’s like, “NO! Because being around a freak like him drives people insane!” Mii giggles through her tears, saying she kind of understands. Ookami tells her to make up her mind on whether she’s crying or laughing.
Mii wonders to herself why she always ends up being so honest when she talks to Ookami.
Ookami brings up a person named Seki, wondering if Mii knows him. She says no, and he tells her he’s a kid in her class who hasn’t shown up for school even once since their 2nd year began, and now Ookami’s been ordered to fish him out, which he thinks is a pain. He hands Mii a note, saying it’s his address and telling her they’re going there tomorrow. she’s like, WHY DO I HAVE TO COME?! And he says it’s not like she’ll do anything but sit inside and sob and annoy her grandmother anyway, so he figured he can just as well take her along somewhere before her grandmother tells him to. Ha.
Mii watches him leave, thinking again that she really does end up being really honest around him. Maybe because he saw her freak out that time they were locked in the prep room? Or because he treasures Tora the same way she does? She thinks it’s really strange...
They head out to find Seki the next day, who surprise surprise, turns out to be Shishio. Seki Shishio. He and Mii have a mutual what-are-you-doing-here moment before it’s all cleared up, and Ookami wonders if they’re acquaintances, which Mii denies, while utterly shocked that he’s her age and all.
Ookami introduces himself, stating matter-of-factly that Shishio hasn’t been coming to school. Shishio says yeah, because it’s boring. Ookami begins to say that unless he starts coming soon and take some supplementary lessons, he won’t be able to advance to next year, but then he changes his tune, saying that it’s not like high school’s compulsory and supplementary lessons are a pain for him too, so actually, if he’s not going to come, then he should just withdraw from school officially and save them both a lot of trouble. Ah, your teacher ethics are golden.
Shishio stares, all, “Are there actually teachers who’ll say teaching’s a pain?” and Ookami says, “There are.” Then he walks away, asking Mii over his shoulder if she hanging back or coming along. She says of course she’s going home, and runs to catch up with him. Shishio thinks that both teachers and students have gotten really interesting lately.
So guess who saunters into school next day... I’ll tell you. It’s Shishio. And he claims the desk next to Mii (having asked her actual neighbour for a switch), still calling her Klara and asking her to share her textbooks with him. Kawada isn’t pleased at all, asking why he’s sitting next to Mii and who Klara is, haha. Shishio says sitting next to someone he knows will give him strength. The lol.
Their classmates can’t believe Mii knows someone like that, and when they mention Shishio’s name he turns around, all, “You called?”
He’s soon attracted a whole crowd, making instant friends with everyone, and then he’s suddenly like, “I wonder if the gym’s free? I feel like playing basketball...”
So when Ookami arrives to have class with them, everyone but Mii and Kawada’s off to play ball. Ookami just proceeds like usual, telling the two of them to open their books.
The rest of the class arrives eventually, and Ookami calmly reminds them that three late-comings equals one absence. Shishio sits down next to Mii, calling her Klara again and asking to see her textbook, but Mii’s been getting progressively more annoyed and finally blows up. She says that first of all, her name is not Klara, and also, if he’s just going to play around, he can do so elsewhere. If he’s going to come, he should sit down and pay attention.
Shishio stares at her and then he apologizes. The whole thing’s kind of like a kid being scolded by his mother haha. Their classmates wonder if Mii was always this kind of person (she’s kind of an outsider in class and all, so no one really knows her).
Realizing what she just did, Mii blushes, despairing on the inside. Ookami calls her an idiot in his mind. Hahah. He then tells her to let Shishio see her textbook.
Shishio’s interest in her has increased even more (LOL what’s the deal, man. D’you have a thing for like... I don’t even know what to call it hahaha), and he asks her what her real name is. Torisawa what?
She tells him it’s Mii, and he links it to the Moomin Valley (Little My is Mii in Japanese), haha. He’s got a thing for overseas children stories. He says she really is interesting, with her Grandma Bag of Wisdom and everything, and then he scoots closer, all, “So, d’you have a boyfriend?” (Ookami picks that moment to tell them to be quiet, HMM.)
Mii stares at him, speechless, and he continues, “Actually, I don’t care if you have one or not. Won’t you be my girl?” And he leans in for a kiss.
LOOOOOOOL.
That’s all I have to say. WTF. Hahaha.
Hahahaha.