Sprout || Episode #5

 Miku reached out and touched Souhei’s hand affectionately as she mumbles out, “I wanted to see Souhei’s face.”

Surprised by her words, Souhei is dumbfounded – luckily though Miku realizes what she’s doing and instantly pulls her hand away apologizing in process.  “What am I saying?” she thinks to herself as she mutters another apology about calling him Souhei for the first time.

He tells her its fine and before things can get any more awkward Miku’s stomach grumbles causing the conversation to take on a lighter tone.  Amused by it Souhei grins and laughs while Miku thinks back to the fact that she has yet to eat dinner.  The two carry on in silence walking side by side until Souhei’s phone goes off with a text message.  It’s Miyuki.

Seeing the text from a distance, Miku’s eyes instantly dart up to Souhei’s face as he lets out a sincere smile reading it.  Seeing his smile, Miku thinks back to Hayato’s when he held her hand and how it wasn’t the same as her fated persons.  Frowning a bit she remembers the face he made when she pulled away from him – hurting him in the process.

“Love won’t go the way I thought it would.”

Running to school Souhei meets up with Hayato at the entrance and tells him he found Miku shortly after calling him.  Hayato smiles and recalls the two of them walking together after she was found; however, he can’t stop himself from asking if she said anything.  Hearing the words Souhei looks surprised as he thinks back to the night before, and the words Miku told him. Shaking his head he looked over at his friends and tells him, “Nothing much.”

Upon entering the school, Miyuki comes running over to him as Hayato takes his leave.  Apparently she’s worried about him because he didn’t reply to her text message the night before.   Remember it Souhei tells her that because Miku was missing and the house was fussing about it he just didn’t get around to it.   Surprised by his words Miyuki instantly asks if she was with Hayato.  Souhei tells her she wasn’t and that she made a stop on the way home and that she was totally fine.

Miyuki says she glad nothing happened to Miku, though she can’t help but wonder if something happened between the two of them (meaning Hayato and Miku).  The two continue to walk to class.

From there we switch over to Miku’s classroom. Grades are out with Takeru, Arata, and Miku all bummed out about supplementary lessons.  Chatting a bit, Miku suddenly says she has a good idea as the screen cuts back to the house. Summer is here.

Souhei walks out on the porch and is soon joined by Miku.  He goes on about how he’s going to play during the break, while Miku agrees only to be cut down by him asking, “Don’t you have lessons?”

Making through on his plans, Souhei goes and plays soccer with Kou and Hayato. During his time with them Kou asks him is he thinks Hayato will be able to ‘properly’ fall in love because he seems to build a wall to keep others out.  Souhei grins as he says, “He’ll be okay, because he found someone he likes.” – that and he tells Kou he’ll help him out too after all they’re friends.

He then tells him teasingly that if he has so much time to worry about his brother, than he should have more time to practice too.  Taking the hint Kou stands up grabbing the ball, just as they’re about to start playing again Souhei get’s a call from Naohara.

It’s tutoring time at the boarding house, which we can assume was Miku’s good idea from earlier, with Naohara and Kiyoka being the teachers.   Sadly though Kiyoka isn’t up to par on her teaching skills and is pretty much worthless.  Trying to cheer her up though, Arata begins to flirt.  He doesn’t get too far with it before Souhei and Hayato arrive.

Naohara called for Hayato because he couldn’t teach physics (which is what Miku did the worst in), and Hayato can.  Trying to help his friend, Souhei tells Miku that Hayato is perfect when it comes to physics; however, Miku just looks down without a word obviously still not over the other day.

Uneasy, Hayato tells Souhei in the hallway that he’s not good at teaching others.  Not taking it, Souhei pretty much tells him he’ll be fine and that if something happened the other night with Miku, he should try and fix it otherwise summer break is just going to be depressing for both of them.

Jumping to her bedroom we see Miku and Hayato sitting together in silence both with their faces down at their books and paper. Almost on cue, Souhei soon knocks on the door – with permission he enters bringing snacks and beverages.  He asks if things are good and Hayato says, “Not really good,” causing a small silence in the room.  Trying to ease the tension Souhei begins to look around as he starts talking about how this is the first time he’s ever been inside Miku’s bedroom (which if you remember from when he moved in, it isn’t true since he entered it to get scissors before.  Wonder if the writers forgot that?)

The small talk begins as Souhei notices a figure on one of her shelves.  Picking it up he tells her about how he has it too and despite it being ugly he can’t bring himself to throw it away.  Agreeing with him Miku begins to talk about the figure some more only to be cut off by him, after noticing that Hayato isn’t saying anything.  Thus, he tosses him in by saying he also has a weird figure in his house as well.  Thinking about it Hayato replies “The dog?”  Which causes Souhei to shout, “That was a dog!?” in disbelief.  Surprised Miku enters the conversation asking about it.  Seeing how it’s not around Hayato begins to doodle it on a blank piece of paper.

The two soon go off in their own little world while Souhei stands watching them for a few moments before taking his leave.

Once it’s just the two of them they suddenly realizing what they’re doing and both lean away from one another. Hayato asks if they can somehow turn back time, before they took the trip to the aquarium.  Looking around uneasily Miku doesn’t answer him but instead asks him why he’s so nice and why he always takes the initiative around her. Thinking about it, he responds, “Because it’s you.”

Outside Miku’s father is watering his garden, walking out Souhei kneels down and looks at a growing sprout in fascination. Chuckling her father tells him that the sprouting stage is the most import one because depending on how it’s raised its growth will change.

Taking in his words Souhei grins as he tells him that it’s the same for a person.  Just then Miyuki shows up with a watermelon her mother bought for them.   Sharing it with everyone in the house, they all gather and enjoy it.  Not eating her own slice, Miku gives it to Hayato upon request.

In the mean time Souhei is eyeing Miku with a smile that Miyuki seems uneasy about.

After the snack, Souhei and Miyuki go inside to play a game.  During the game Souhei continues to talk about Miku and how it’s fresh to see a girl who can’t study.  Noticing it, Miyuki messes up her turn in the game causing Souhei to wonder if something was wrong, even just briefly.  She shakes it off and tells him it’s nothing and they continue the game.

Meanwhile outside Miku is walking Hayato to the gate she thanks him for helping her and bids him farewell.  On her way back inside though something goes wrong.

A ways away on the bridge, Miyuki runs over to Souhei and embraces him.  He’s surprised by her actions and immediately asks her what’s wrong.  Which she retaliates with “Do I need a reason?”

He tells her no and she tells him that if he ever leaves her she might die (which makes me think she kind of has a feeling that Souhei is starting to like Miku – though she was a bit too dramatic).  He pulls her away and tells her that he won’t go anywhere and that he’ll always be by her side.

On his way back to the house, Souhei see’s Miku doubled over in the yard.  He instantly runs over to see if she’s all right.

Looking up at him she seems disoriented as she stands up only to collapse into his arms.  Scooping her up, he checks her forehead with his own which causes the two to share a glance into each other’s eyes.

She has a fever.  Heading towards the house he lays her down inside.  Just then her mother enters the room and asks what’s wrong.  Souhei immediately tells her that Miku has a fever and to take care as he begins to take his leave.  Keeping her eyes on him, Miku watches as he leaves only to turn back and give her one final glance just like her fated person from episode one.  The two lock eyes for a split second before they both look away.

Heading to his room, Souhei thinks back to Miku’s words about seeing his face as she sighs, “What’s wrong with me.”

Back to Miyuki, we see her waiting at the bus stop as Hayato appears. Asking her if she’s all right, he keeps his distance. Miyuki looks over at him with watery eyes as she rushes over and embraces him (Could he be the requited love she spoke of? And look at Hayato’s face XD).

The episode then comes to a close with both Souhei and Miku looking troubled about what happened.