First of all, before the next episode rolls around, and before all out there watch it, I wish to say something – I didn’t mean it, what I said in episode 5’s post about a certain single Dad. I was only kidding! I didn’t think that it would actually happen! You know, after all these times when it seems that everything I speculate on comes true (when it is bad speculation), you would think that I would learn to keep my mouth shut about these things! Anyway I just want to apologize. If anyone doesn’t know what I am talking about, I will explain in the next episode’s post.

For now, we are on episode 6. Rena and Kotoha are still getting closer (well, they are getting back on track in this episode), Kotoha faces her demons in her sister, we get a threat to our yuri introduced in the form of Yuma (the single Dad) and Rena finds herself is a heap of dunk.

 

 
 
 
 

The ‘Mind your own damn business’ face
 

Yeah, what kind of name is that?
 
 
 
 
 

Um…How about No!
 
 
 
 
 

Darn it man >.<

Look at that skip in her step!
 
 
Oh snap! And she was just on Cloud 9!
 
 
 
 

Onee-sama please!
 


And not a single tear was shed that day
 
 

Sad Kotoha is sad

Does cutting to Rena mean she was thinking of her? Hell it does!
 


D’AWW!
 
 




All aboard!!
 



C-Could it be?! Oh Rena, I thought you were innocent!!

Close enough
 

 
 

 
 



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

We pick up from where episode 5 left off when the duo are facing off against Yuma and his partner! Either way you look at it, this was over-shadowing for a romantic route that is sure to happen later on! Yuma is a single Dad, his wife having dies. He has a young daughter and he too looks really young. He was totally fit to be Rena’s partner. Anyone seeing this would have picked up the same vibe, that the series was setting these two up for later development. So really, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I got my jimmies rustled! I can tell you it was hell sitting through this and the next episode.

Oh yeah, I totally watched the raws for episode 7! Why? Well, like I said, my jimmies were rustled so hard that I almost gave up on this series, meaning that I was no longer even giving a tick if there were subs or not and so I went ahead and watched the shitty 480p quality without subs. I was that pissed. I guess I don’t have to tell you why I am writing about this still then! Actually it is not certain and we will have to wait until episode 8 to confirm it but then again when I think of the flags that were being raised through out the episode prior to then, well, maybe we won’t need episode 8. But if life transcended, then we have a very big problem.

Ah but that is the future, let’s get back to the now, shall we? The two have a little heated chat and you can tell that they are standing on different grounds but also you know there is something that connects them and it was that hidden something that rubbed me the wrong way. Even though they looked like they were on bad sides of each other, we all know that is how most romances start, with both parties hating each other until the Guy plays hero and the Girl is all over him! And when you think of what life Rena has led, it wouldn’t take much from a wannabe hero to move her heart.

What I found interesting here in this first scene for the episode when it came to what matters for me in this series, and by that I mean Rena/Kotoha, was that when Yuma sent his partner away so he could talk with Rena alone, Kotoha just stayed there next to Rena and Rena didn’t ask her to leave. They were like, ‘anything you have to say to Rena you can say to Kotoha’. What’s more interesting is that Kotoha didn’t actually feel like a third wheel, like she shouldn’t be there. Why was that I wonder! Then again even Yuma didn’t seem to think that she was invading. I just don’t get why he had sent his partner away. It’s not like he didn’t know about Rena and what Yuma said his partner also knew already, so why?

Anyway Yuma left the two with a threat that if Rena didn’t stop her current activities that he would arrest her personally without mercy. He actually also brought up the Kotoha incident and tried to use it against Rena. Like, hello fool, you know nothing! And Kotoha didn’t say anything to him then because it was irrelevant. Rena didn’t seem that affected by it anyway like how you would think another person would be. Guilty-tripping others usually works and gets reactions out of people, especially given how serious Kotoha and Rena’s situation was that time a year ago. It’s a good thing that they already talked about the incident then, eh? Really, why don’t all other relationships progress like Rena and Kotoha’s? They are always on the top of things!

Speaking of the two, Rena is still teaching Kotoha something new on their missions. She always answers Kotoha’s questions which are not as a way for conversation but a way to pass knowledge and I don’t know why but I love those little details. No matter the question, no matter the place, Rena would answer it clearly and truthfully. It’s the truest Senpai/Kouhai relationship I have ever seen! And Kotoha too, she does anything that Rena asks of her and yet it is not anywhere near power abusive behavior or anything like that. Kotoha is always happy to help Rena but there is also this equality about their relationship that we see coming out more prevalent this episode.

When Rena found the hideout of the target that they had been trailing, she went to that hotel and checked in in order to keep tabs on the guy. It was during this mission away from the office that Kotoha’s sister decided to drop in for a visit but more on that later. Rena had asked her to ask Sota (The guy that works in their office but in a different division and the one I thought would be the love interest for Rena) to do some research regarding the missing DV women that had gone missing from the shelter last episode. She had also asked her to bring a certain device that can be used to listen through walls. When Kotoha had gotten to the hotel room, she learned that Rena had snuck into the guy’s room next door and the way she quietly reprimands Rena for being too careless there just stood out to me. Rena did not reply to it but I am sure she hard it clearly. I believe that they are both now aware of the roles they play in each other’s lives, well, to an extent. Kotoha is like Rena’s safety switch now and From the same scene actually, we know Rena doesn’t mind it!

When the guy next door left, Rena decided to trail him and of course Kotoha wanted to go with her. It was too dangerous though and all things considered the margins of safety were higher if Rena went alone. Kotoha was not very happy about it and she did not hide it! It was plain to see on her face. Rena paused upon seeing the heart felt worry on Kotoha’s face and told her not to worry. She said that she would not be careless anymore. Those words were just that to Kotoha though and did not appease her in the least. She had to make Rena promise to make sure to come return safely. But even then she was not assured.

And she was right to be very worried about Rena. It didn’t help that she had gone searching about this gang that she had heard their Boss and that Head Chief of the Police mention. The Guy that Rena was tailing was a part of that gang and they were not the type of people to mess around with. Indeed, Rena found herself in a pinch of trouble during that stakeout that ended up with her being kidnapped by said gang.

The way that they put those moments in the episode was great. We would be shown Rena undercover and in definitely standing on thin ice and then we would cut to Kotoha, sitting in a dark room worrying the world about Rena. She struggled with what to do, and whom to call. And that moment just hit me right in the heart. These two were just so far ahead! Well, Kotoha was and already knew what she wanted to do for Rena and probably what she needed from her too. It is Rena that is still a mystery. All we know on her part is that she has let Kotoha in further than she has anyone else. Like, there is this moment while the two are still together in the hotel room and Kotoha told her about what had happened between the Chief and their Boss. I’m not sure why but Rena asked that Kotoha should keep all their future actions from their co-workers. In other words, not even their Boss in close to level that Kotoha and Rena are connected.

I sure hope Suma (Boss man) doesn’t actually end up being the final boss!

Anyway as Kotoha worried and worried without being able to decide what to do to help Rena who was obvious in deep doodoo, she called up Yuma! Yeah, that was very convenient, wasn’t it?! They had just met face to face for the first time in the beginning of the very same episode and suddenly it was only him that Kotoha could contact to help Rena out?! Oh you bet all your savings I was all kinds of pissed off! Everything was going so well and here came an iceberg to sink out ship!

Oh well, at least Kotoha finally explained to him where she and Rena were, in other words telling him that he had better get the hell away from their business! Her and Rena’s relationship was their business and she was not a child that couldn’t make her own decisions in life. Now if only a certain someone could also get it through their skulls that Kotoha wasn’t a child to fuss over anymore.

Speaking of, dear Onee-sama paid a visit to Suma Research (Rena and Kotoha’s place of work) planning to get Kotoha away from that place and Rena’s life. Needless to say it didn’t end well. And all this right when Kotoha was the happiest in the day. That smile she beamed when Rena had thanked her…God Lord! One simple word! One word and it sent Kotoha flying! That is the power of that one word, or two – Thank you, as it should have been translated. Somehow using ‘thanks’ took the meaning out of the sentence. Rena hadn’t just said it out of the blue out of habit. There was a pause there which put emphasis on the feelings of gratitude that Rena was trying to convey to Kotoha. Somehow the translator using ‘thank, Kotoha’ was demeaning, well for me at least. I don’t know, I just think that ‘Thank you Kotoha’ was the appropriate translation but alas. Beggars can’t be chooser, eh? It beat having no subs at all!

Anyway back to the siblings, Kotoha had finally had enough of her sister’s controlling nature, treating her life she wasn’t in her twenties! Yep, Kotoha made sure to give her a piece of her mind and let everything she had been holding in for all those years pour out. She didn’t even care that their co-workers were all watching! She dragged her sister out of there and told her that she did not need her to her face.

Obviously she was only lost in the moment will apologize and makeup with her sister later on. She will realize how luck she is to have a sister and hopefully said sister will have changed her ways. Then again seeing as this series doesn’t pull any punches, maybe her sister will get worse and next time she might go after Kotoha herself and even decide to imprison her for her own good. Actually that would be plausible and Rena will have her chance to beat some sense into said sister and thus get some sweet revenge.

But all that being said and done, the best moment for me came when Kotoha was having a talk with Sota about Rena. Kotoha was telling him about the incident a year ago and her sister and how she had believing everything her sister had told her about Rena not coming to visit. She says how badly she had wanted to see Rena and how much she wanted to talk to her (3-pointer).

Sota told her what we already knew, that Rena did in fact visit her in the hospital but for reasons unknown, she did not meet with Kotoha. Kotoha knew that Rena had come to apologize many times from the videos, as she told her sister during their heated exchange at the office earlier on. What she did not know was that Rena had visited her at the hospital as well. She said that Rena did not mention anything about it and Sota said to her what we were thinking, that Rena wouldn’t have said it because she wasn’t that kind of person. She didn’t always say what she felt.

Kotoha said that it must have been sad living that way, not having anyone to tell everything to. The reply that Sota gives to this line totally stole the episode for me and it was all I needed to hear in order to see development in Rena and Kotoha’s relationship this episode over the last. He tell her –

‘Isn’t that where you come in?”

The grin on my face could have split a neutron!

First it was Boss man then it was Sota. All the guys that otherwise would have been love interests and probably even the rivals for Rena in any other drama, were actually supporting Rena and Kotoha! How could I not even ship this?! Rena and Kotoha are probably the only two people in this verse that aren’t even aware of what they really mean to one another! Now all we need to get is support from Yuma too and the list of three signatures we need to get for a wedding will be complete!

Actually another thing I found interesting that I think forgot to mention was during the sisters’ fight. It was when Kotoha said that she didn’t need a sister. Now like I said it might have just been said in the heat of battle and she did not mean it but even if she had, whether she liked it or not Kotoha still had a sister. So then what kind of relationship was she looking to have with Rena? Sure for Rena maybe seeing Kotoha as her sister’s replacement can be taken seriously but what doesn’t Kotoha get out of this? Is she willing to play the part as a way to repay the debt in that she still feels partly responsible for Sakura’s death? Even so, everything time I think of her saying that line of not needing a sister….I can’t help but think!

Well, from that talk with Sota we can at least agree that Kotoha is to be someone special enough to Rena that she could trust completely. Rena needs someone to confide in with all her worries and her joys, someone she would not have any secrets with and the consensus even in the story-verse seems to be rooting for Kotoha so who am I to say otherwise, eh? I hope we get scenes to show us that they got to that level by the end of the series. I swear, between this and Hibike, Japan is ditching out some really great yuri relationship developments lately! I hope this is a good sign. Maybe the charm will extend to the movie-verse too? Hmm there is a though. I best keep an eye out for some new movies in production. There might be a hidden gem on the sort that I just mentioned.

Anyway that is that about this episode. Next episode has zero Rena/Kotoha face-to-face so it will be a very short post. Arg, I knew that Yuma guy was trouble the moment I saw that ED for last episode. Now he is taking up all the Rena time next episode! Oh well, no pleasure without pain, am I right!