SENSITIVE INTELLIGENCE REPORT – RESTRICTED DISSEMINATION
SUBJECT: 1. REPEATED EXCHANGES BETWEEN CHIZU AND RYU OVER THE RECENT TOORU-HARUKA INCIDENT HAVE LED TO CONFUSION AND TEMPORARILY STRAINED RELATIONS.
……………2. ALLIANCE CONFERENCE ON FALLOUT FROM THE TOORU-HARUKA INCIDENT.
DATE: LATE FEBRUARY 2010
1. CHIZU’S RETURN TO THE SANADA RESIDENCE WITH THE GOAL OF GIVING RYU HIS GIFT WAS MET BY RYU BRINGING UP THE SUBJECT OF HER FEELINGS FOR TOORU. HIS BLUNT APPRAISAL OF THE SITUATION TOUCHED ON STILL HURT FEELINGS, CAUSING CHIZU TO THROW THE GIFT AT HIM AND RUN AWAY IN STATE OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS. FOLLOWING DAY WHILE AT SCHOOL RYU INTERCEPTED CHIZU EN ROUTE TO LUNCH AND ATTEMPTED TO CLARIFY HIS WORDS AND INTENTIONS, ALTHOUGH AT THIS TIME C/O DOES NOT BELIEVE THAT CHIZU HAD PROCESSED HER FEELINGS BY THAT POINT AND WAS NOT RECEPTIVE TO HIS WORDS.
2. THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE SAWAYAKYAA ALLIANCE MET AFTER CONCERNS BY SAWAKO AND AYANE OVER CHIZU’S ATTEMPTS NOT TO LET HER FEELINGS SHOW PUBLICLY. KAZEHAYA SUGGESTED THAT THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION WOULD BE TO LET THE PASSING OF TIME CALM CHIZU AND TO BE READY TO RESPOND ONCE SHE SOUGHT ALLIANCE SUPPORT. AS A RESULT, BY THE END OF THE DAY CHIZU WAS WILLING TO OPEN UP TO ALLIANCE MEMBERS AND BEGIN TO RESOLVE LINGERING FEELINGS FROM THE TOORU-HARUKA INCIDENT.
Right off the bat we see Sawako’s continued concern for her friend now that her childhood crush has a fiancée, though with Chizu acting normally towards her friends she’s not sure what to do to help. Ryu and Chizu for their parts are also feeling out of place and unsure over where exactly all this is heading. That evening Chizu heads over to Ryu’s house to give him his gift, still acting like nothing happened when Ryu gets right to the heart of the matter and tells her that he’s glad that her crush has been ended now instead of continuing on forever. While he is master of the baseball field, subtlety isn’t his strongest trait and this blunt appraisal of the situation is not what Chizu wants to hear at this point in time given her feelings for Tooru and what seems to be the beginnings of her realizing that she also has feelings for Ryu. While not the smoothest talker, to his credit Ryu does nothing to try and take advantage of the situation by comforting her with ulterior motives, though it seems to me that he is also rather conflicted about what he should be doing at this point.
The next day at school Sawako and Ayane are still stressed out worrying about what, if anything, they can do for Chizu. Both really want to help, but Sawako can’t think of anything and Ayane is mad at herself for immediately suggesting to Chizu that there are plenty of other guys out there. Not sure what to do, the two sit down with Kazehaya and ask him what he would do. Being a good friend of Ryu he would certainly like to help, but advises that the best way to help both of their friends is to wait it out while they process their feelings and then be there afterwards for support. Sawako is quite impressed by the ‘less is more’ approach, though Ayane starts going off on a spiel about how the way guys do things irritates her, before finally accepting the wisdom of the advice. During lunch Ryu goes after Chizu and grabs her arm to get her to stay and talk instead of avoiding him, only to mishandle the situation again and continue the communicational disconnect he and Chizu seem to have. Fortunately this seems to have advanced the resolution of her feelings, because later on in the day Sawako and Chizu approach her and when Sawako starts to cry so does Chizu, letting out her frustrations while giving her friends quite the big hug. At the end Ryu seems ready to bring Tooru back into the mix to help resolve the situation, and next week promises a resolution of the Chizu Arc.
Crusader’s Record of Kazehaya War
The only good thing that seems to be happening is that Yano’s face has healed, on the Chizu Front things aren’t going so well. Seems the inevitable tragedy of first love has befallen her as she can put on much of strong front and wish Tooru well. RyuuxChizu relations are at an all time low as Ryuu wants to help reality sink in with the truth though his blunt delivery is hard for Chizu to accept. I suppose that Kazehaya is probably right that the best thing you can do for a friend with a broken heart is to be there to lend an ear. I hope they can patch things up in the end after Chizu has cried her self out. It’s hard to fault either one of them Ryuu said what had to be said lest Chizu gets stuck in a dream that will never be. Hopefully this spat amongst friends will end, still it is so sad to see that unrequited love has proved more devastating than all of Ume’s machinations. At least Chizu just let it all out in the end it’s better than bottling it up in the long run. I am rather glad though that Ryuu wasn’t trying to swoop in so soon and decided to let Chizu handle it herself even if she gets hurt and stumbles along for a while until she accepts that Tooru isn’t going to marry her under any ideal circumstances. Thankfully Chizu is no Ume and I doubt that Chizu would resort to such lowly tricks, not that I think she is capable of such treachery.
ExecutiveOtaku’s Unadulterated Adoration of Sawako and Current Intelligence Report
Tooru will be back for the New Year’s holiday, perhaps to put to rest Chizu’s childhood infatuation for good.
Cue the epic standoff music.
The resolution of the unrequited feelings for Tooru and trying to come to terms with at least some feelings for Ryu is developing with some really awkward moments and false starts.
Ryu, too cool for his own good it seems. Perhaps he’s hoping that escalating the sore feelings now will mean that they will burn themselves out faster.
As sensitive and subtle as a colony drop there, Ryu.
Started talkin straight, wouldn’t you know, she reached back for the gift and distance-slapped the otouto.
It’s like me in the morning before 10am or so. Always happy to see more evil-Sawako, even if it’s only caused by sleep deprivation.
Tactical disconnect. While it’s a tried and true tactic in failed relationship situations, Ayane failed to take heed of this particular set of circumstances.
Giving the wrong pep-talk has left Ayane in despair!
Kazehaya walked in at an opportune moment.
Emergency session of the Sawayakyaa Alliance in response to the aftermath of the Tooru-Haruka Incident.
Cower before Ayane’s blind rage and chibi duck-bill lips!
Sawako’s embrace soothes the wild Ayane.
Indeed. Now Kazehaya must do what he can to work on Ryu, this is going to take a team effort.
Sawako holding back crying…or growling like Chiaki, one or the other.
Chizu adheres to the Yamada Ayu school of emotional coping.
Showdown, part 2.
She seems to have realized that this was coming, not that it made it any easier.
Finally it comes out.
“Use your aggressive feelings girl, let the hate flow through you!” Should have known Ayane was a powerful Sith lord. The Alliance is a obviously mixed-alignment party like in Knights of the Old Republic.
EO’s DAAAAWWWWW of the Week: Sawako hugs purify even the most troubled of hearts.
9 Comments
Man that Shota sure gives a lot of advice for a guy who can’t even tell Sawako how he feels! Loved the title of this post too!
Haha, it’s not really surprising that Kazehaya’s advice is to shut up and let the other person do all the talking — that’s exactly what he does when Sawako accidentally flirts with him.
OUCH
The truth hurts. Kazehaya has it in him to be more proactive, but when it comes to romance he’s still too shy it seems.
Not really much Ryu can do or say, is there? At the very least he is there to be someone Chizu can get pissed off with and take her mind off the failed crush.
Nice to know that when Sawako turns on the waterworks, it triggers the big inner softie in Chizu, which gives her the opportunity to vent…
Chizu’s always been such a softie for Sawako, going back to the first episode even when she was crying and had ‘duty’, ‘honor’ etc written on her face, hehe. Not too far below the surface I think she’s as sentimental as Sawako is.
This is why I love Kimi ni Todoke so much. Not just because Sawako and Kazehaya are just about the cutest couple, but their supporting friends are just as awesome.
I love Chizu, its my hope that eventually she’ll stop being clueless and figure out she and Ryu are made for each other!
Chizu X Ryu forever! Agreed that it’s great having such awesome supporting characters, equally so that the writer has actually given an entire several episode arc to two of them. Normally these things would be left to play out in the background without all the detail or a narrative, but here they take center stage. Plus it prevents a weakness that a lot of shoujo has: stretching out the main protagonist’s love triangle/rivalry over the entire course of a series, something that often makes it feel artificially prolonged.
As long as Sawako is around everyone will discover their true feelings! Ah, that was really lame… But true dammit!!