★ Point:
Kouta and Sakura are still just as close as ever as childhood friends. They're so clingy with each other they look like an actual couple, even though they're not dating anymore and neither of them has romantic feelings for the other. But Sakura starts feeling hurt once she finds out Ui actually likes Kouta.
Characters:
Mc: Miyamachi Kouta
Heroine1: Houzenji Sakura
Heroine2: Asama Ui
Others:
Iwami
Kujou Mio
Nanba Ryousuke
Uehonmachi Hinako
Yoshino
The school exam results finally come out, and this time Kouta's scores are way better than before. That improvement's the result of him putting in real effort lately. After finding out his childhood friend Houzenji Sakura wants to become a novelist and is planning to go to college in Tokyo, Kouta starts thinking about his own future more seriously. He wants to keep being by Sakura's side, so he realizes he needs to catch up academically if he wants to end up on the same path as her.
Kouta's changes aren't just about his grades. He also starts working out a lot, jogging especially. His body slowly gets more toned, and that change in looks starts getting more girls to notice him.
Kouta's friend Nanba Ryousuke, as usual, is way more interested in how close Kouta and Sakura are. To Ryousuke they already look like a couple. They're together basically all the time and have a closeness that's hard to pass off as just normal friendship. But every time someone brings it up, Kouta and Sakura always deny it and say they're just childhood friends now.
The truth is, their relationship's way more complicated than that.
Kouta and Sakura actually used to date. Their relationship even went all the way to the sexual stage, and they've slept together before. Even so, that experience just left them more confused about what love even means. Even after doing all the stuff a couple usually does, neither Kouta nor Sakura could really see each other as a romantic partner.
In the end, they felt like being together wasn't that different from back when they were just childhood friends. That's why they decided to break up.
The question of what love actually means becomes a big deal again because Sakura's struggling to write her novel. The editor handling her previous work asked her to add a romance element to the story. But how's Sakura supposed to write about love if she doesn't even know what falling in love feels like herself?
Her experience with Kouta doesn't help much either. They dated, kissed, even slept together, but Sakura's never once felt anything she could actually call romantic love.
Looking for some kind of reference, one day while Sakura's hanging out in Kouta's room, she asks him to watch a romance anime together. She's hoping that watching how the characters experience and realize their feelings will help her understand what love actually feels like.
The anime's about a girl who's self-conscious about her body because she's taller than everyone around her. When she was a kid, she had a really close guy friend who was shorter than her. But once they hit middle school, the guy grew a lot taller and his looks changed completely. As he got more handsome and popular, the two of them slowly drifted apart.
Once they get to high school, fate brings them back together as classmates. That chance gets them talking again like before. From there, the main girl slowly starts noticing her childhood friend in a different way, until she finally realizes she's fallen for him.
After watching the anime, Sakura gets even more curious about what it really means to love someone. She tries asking Kouta what the difference is between just liking someone and actually loving them.
Kouta brings up Asama Ui. Doesn't Sakura like Ui too?
Sakura doesn't deny that she does like Ui. But that feeling comes from thinking Ui's cute and a hard worker. Sakura always wants to support her in chasing her dream. To her, that feeling isn't romantic at all.
Turns out Kouta feels pretty much the same way about Ui. So he can't really give Sakura the answer she's looking for either.
Sakura then remembers a scene from the anime where the main girl feels her heart race just from holding hands with the guy she loves. From that, Sakura figures maybe one sign of being in love is your heart racing when you're close to that person.
But that theory just makes things between Sakura and Kouta feel weird again.
Back when they were dating, Sakura never once felt her heart race because of Kouta. Kouta feels the exact same way. Looking back on that time, Kouta feels like they were just two childhood friends playing at being a couple.
Still curious, Sakura comes up with an idea.
If her heart's never raced for Kouta before, why not just try to create a situation that could actually make that happen.
Sakura tells Kouta to wait while she runs home for a bit to get ready. A little while later she comes back looking completely different. She's wearing her old middle school uniform, changed up her hair, put on makeup, and dolled herself up to look like a gyaru.
It's not just her looks that change. Sakura's whole attitude gets way more aggressive too.
She keeps teasing Kouta and even deliberately flashes her underwear just to see if that'll actually make her childhood friend's heart race.
Seeing Sakura getting more and more over the top, Kouta tries to stop her. But Sakura just keeps egging him on. The teasing eventually gets so bad that Kouta can barely hold himself back, to the point he threatens to actually sleep with her if she doesn't stop.
Instead of backing off scared, Sakura dares him to go ahead and do it.
The two of them almost end up having sex again, just like when they were dating.
Right before things go any further, Kouta's mom's voice comes from inside the house. She says she's heading out to go shopping.
That voice instantly snaps Kouta and Sakura back to reality, making them realize they'd gone way too far.
But Sakura still doesn't seem fully ready to stop. She even reminds Kouta that her period just ended, and says if they want to keep going, Kouta needs to use a condom.
The problem is, after breaking up with Sakura, Kouta already threw out every condom he used to have in his room.
When Kouta checks the time and says he has to head out, Sakura assumes he's going to buy condoms. She tells him not to bother since she's still got some back at her own place. Sakura even invites Kouta to come over so they can finish what they almost started.
Kouta teases her back, explaining that he's actually heading out because he has cram school, not to buy condoms.
Realizing she misunderstood, and that she basically just straight up invited Kouta to sleep with her, Sakura's face turns bright red from embarrassment.
Kouta then walks to cram school. He usually takes the train or rides his bike, but what just happened with Sakura has his head all messed up, so he decides to walk so he has time to calm down.
His decision to go to cram school on his own is also tied to Sakura. Kouta feels like he's still way behind academically. He once promised Sakura's parents he'd always stay by their daughter's side. Since Sakura wants to continue her studies in Tokyo, Kouta wants to improve his grades so he's still good enough to walk the same path as her.
After cram school's done, Kouta doesn't head straight home. He wants to keep studying on his own and looks for a quiet spot inside the building.
Heading toward the back stairs, Kouta accidentally spots two girls hugging each other. He recognizes one of them but doesn't want to butt into their business, so he decides to go to the cafeteria instead.
Not long after Kouta sits down there, the girl he saw earlier comes up to him.
That girl is Iwami, a tall girl with a look and presence that comes off as really cool.
Kouta first met Iwami through a pretty random encounter in town. Back then, Iwami was being hit on by another girl. The moment she spotted Kouta walking by, Iwami rushed over and made up a story that they were dating.
Kouta obviously denied it right away. He didn't want to get dragged into whatever was going on between Iwami and that girl. But his rejection actually ended up making Iwami interested in him. Since then, the two of them have run into each other a few times and ended up talking pretty often.
Since he's got Sakura's situation on his mind, Kouta decides to ask Iwami for her take. He asks what the actual difference is between liking someone as a person and liking them romantically.
According to Iwami, that's not really an easy question to answer for sure. Someone who's in love usually can't stop thinking about the person they love. Every little thing that person does becomes something that catches their attention and is hard to just ignore.
But since love's a matter of feelings, it's really hard to explain with words alone. Someone who's never experienced it probably won't really get that sensation.
Still, Iwami knows a way to at least fake something close to that racing-heart feeling, by using the suspension bridge effect.
That's when someone's heart races from fear, anxiety, or a tense situation, but that feeling gets mistakenly read as romantic attraction toward whoever they're with at the time.
Kouta figures that idea might actually help Sakura, so he passes Iwami's explanation on to her right away.
Sakura's immediately interested.
At first they consider places that could get the adrenaline going, like a haunted house. But since it's not the season for that, they can't find anywhere suitable. Bungee jumping comes up too, but Kouta's too scared to actually do it.
In the end Sakura suggests testing the effect literally, they actually want to go to a suspension bridge.
The problem is, the spot they found is pretty far and hard to reach by public transport. That's why Sakura suggests they both get their motorcycle licenses.
From that point on, the two of them start seriously studying so they can pass the license exam.
In the middle of getting ready for that, while Kouta and Sakura are walking to school together, they spot Asama Ui looking all flustered. Turns out Ui's nervous because she's about to start a part-time job.
Kouta and Sakura bring her to the empty classroom they usually hang out in and help her practice being a waitress.
Ui's not just working for allowance money. She dreams of becoming a voice actress. If she ever passes an audition and has to go to Tokyo for recording, she'll need travel money as a starting fund. That's why she wants to start saving up herself.
Ui's going to be working at an okonomiyaki restaurant.
During practice, the lines she says for serving customers are actually pretty good already. The problem is Ui's still too tense and doesn't smile enough.
Sakura tells Ui to imagine that the person in front of her is someone she sees as her savior, someone she's always wanted to meet again.
Entretanto, Kouta é convidado a interpretar o papel dessa pessoa.
O cenário que eles imaginam é um futuro onde Ui já se tornou uma dubladora famosa e finalmente reencontra a pessoa que a inspirou a seguir esse caminho.
Entendendo o que Sakura queria dizer, Kouta parabeniza Ui pelo seu sucesso.
A reação de Ui surge completamente por instinto. Com o rosto radiante de felicidade, ela imediatamente abraça Kouta.
Kouta ainda não faz ideia de que a pessoa que Ui procura há tanto tempo é, na verdade, ele. Ui sabe a verdade desde o volume anterior, mas não teve coragem de dizer, pois ainda se sente insuficiente para estar ao lado de Kouta.
Enquanto isso, a preparação de Kouta e Sakura dá resultado. Ambos conseguem tirar suas carteiras de habilitação para motocicleta.
Após voltarem do teste, eles planejam experimentar pilotar as motocicletas que têm em casa, dando umas voltas pelo bairro. Eles querem se acostumar a pilotar antes de partirem para a longa viagem até a ponte suspensa.
Mas, enquanto estão na estação, encontram Ui novamente. Desta vez, a garota parece assustada.
Kouta e Sakura correm imediatamente até ela.
A princípio, Ui apenas lhes conta que haverá uma audição para uma nova dubladora em breve. Eles imediatamente ficam animados com ela. Mas Kouta percebe que algo está errado com Ui e pergunta o que está acontecendo.
Ui finalmente admite que ultimamente tem sentido como se alguém que ela não conhece a estivesse observando.
Ao perceberem que poderia haver um perseguidor envolvido, Kouta e Sakura se oferecem para proteger Ui até que o problema seja resolvido.
Eles acabaram falando com a polícia sobre o ocorrido. Infelizmente, ainda não há danos reais ou provas suficientes, e a identidade de quem estava seguindo Ui permanece desconhecida. Por isso, a polícia ainda não pode tomar nenhuma providência.
Kouta e Sakura decidem proteger Ui por conta própria. Todos os dias, eles a buscam, a acompanham até a escola, a deixam em seu trabalho de meio período e depois se certificam de que ela chegue em casa em segurança.
Em seu primeiro dia de trabalho, Ui se depara com um problema, já que ainda não está acostumada com a função. Ao carregar bebidas, ela perde o equilíbrio e quase cai.
Kouta, que a observava o tempo todo, se move rapidamente e consegue pegar Ui, embora acabe completamente encharcado pelas bebidas.
O restaurante não deu muita importância ao erro. Na verdade, eles acharam que a Ui se saiu muito bem para o primeiro dia dela. Ela até pôde ir para casa mais cedo.
Mas, ao chegarem em casa, encontram algo muito mais preocupante.