Isshuukan Friends episode 11

I feel slightly more human today then I did yesterday. Yesterday I was in zombie mode. I went to bed at 2:30 am and woke up at 5:59 am because for some reason our neighbor's cop car alarm went off. Like scared the crap out of about the 100 people within earshot, waking us all from our slumber. Well except my husband. Apparently me opening the door in a confused dazed was more noisy than the BEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEP that went on for about 30 minutes while we all stood around in our pajamas looking like zombies. And since I am the worst sleeper on the face of the planet...I didn't go back to bed.

This is how boys make friendships.

So yes. I am more human today than yesterday. What an understatement. And since there is only ONE soccer/fotball match today...WOOHOO! I can do lots of anime posts today yes? Hopefully. We shall see. You know how I can get. Oh wait the matches are on different channel than I am used to. Nothing will get done haha. XD Up now is Isshuukan Friends episode 11. Spoilers for...THE TRUTH. All of it. Just so dramatic and awful you know.  

Episode Summary: Yuuki is thinking to himself that it is finally winter time, his first winter with Kaori. She has slowly started to build up her memories once again but things are still not the same, back before Kujou came to town. Still she talks happily about how Fridays don't scare her anymore and she has her diary to thanks for that. She happily flips through it until she stops on a particular page. She says nothing is wrong and that she is happy she has friends, happy thanks to Yuuki. Yuuki takes a drink break to talk to Shougo. Apparently Shougo told him once to allow things to happen naturally. Yuuki wants to tell Shougo he isn't going to follow that advice. Instead he is going to try his hardest to get back to where they were before. Shougo seems to support this as...Yuuki is Yuuki. As they finish their break they see Saki round the corner, see Shougo, and run back the other way. HMMM there. Saki runs and hides in the classroom and her two friends ask what is wrong. Saki says she made Shougo mad and the two girls Ai and Maiko decide that Saki needs to apologize even if Shougo scary face and smiling face are all scary. Shougo listens to this rude conversation and decides all girls are crazy. After school Yuuki wants to walk home with Kaori (and Shougo) when Ai and Maiko declare it a girl's only zone and kidnap Kaori. Yuuki was set to walk home with Shougo when Ai runs up and asks why Kaori is so against going to their area's only crepe shop. Did something happen there? Yuuki remembers Kaori freaking out the other day and tells Shougo to walk home without him. Yuuki returns to the classroom where Kujou is doing the class report. Yuuki wants to know what happened at the crepe shop and Kujou acts like this is the 19th time the kid has asked him. Yuuki simply says well if you remember let me know which makes Kujou call the two girls that were at the crepe shop. They all agree to meet at a restaurant and the two boys wait. Kujou tries to act all tough, saying he doesn't care about Kaori but Yuuki points out that the kid says that a lot. Yuuki thinks Kujou likes Kaori and doesn't see him as just a creep anymore. Yuuki keeps on talking, saying he wants to know about Kujou and Kaori when they were younger. Kujou wasn't done being...himself and tries to play up that he and Kaori were....special together. They were popular and while they were not dating Kujou thought they were more than friends. Yuuki understands that thinking. Even though they had tons of friends they always spent time together doing math and such. Yuuki realizes that Kujou is the one who made Kaori love math.

But but...I am the special friend!

The two girls finally show up and...the scene changes to Kaori hanging out with Saki and company. They have gone to a karaoke place to discuss Saki's issue. Or not really because Saki never explains why she and Shougo are having issues. But Ai and Maiko want to help Saki so...Kaori needs to find an opportunity for Saki and Shougo to talk. Kaori really has no idea what to do but friendship matters so she will help. Their paid time is up so the girls all decide to continue the conversation at a restaurant. Lala walking for them and they end up at the same place where Kujou, Yuuki, and the two girls are. Saki and the other girls go to sit down where Kaori goes to use the payphone because what is a cellphone? When she goes to make the call she sees Yuuki and people sitting there so she walks over happily. During all of this the girls were telling Yuuki and Kujou what happened the day Kaori got hit by a car. Turns out Kujou was super popular in class and one of Kaori's friends liked him. They found out that Kujou was going tell Kaori his...feelings on that particular Sunday so the girls all decided to confront Kaori beforehand. They all called Kaori names and what not for being mean to this friend and her secret feelings to Kujou. Kaori ran off upset and got hit by a car. Those girls went to visit Kaori in the hospital but she pretended to not know them thus the gossip and why THESE girls know. Kaori is then noticed by the group as she quietly cries. She says she is not sad...just now she knows the truth. She continues to cry and Ai/Maiko agree to help Saki take Kaori home. Kaori arrives home and doesn't feel like talking to her mother about her crappy day. She instead starts to cry as she writes in her diary. Yuuki stays back with Kujou to hear his side of this story. Kujou seems to think it's his fault this all happened, because he wanted to remain her special friend. Monday rolls around and Yuuki goes to see Kaori on the roof. She is relieved as a lot happened on Friday. She claims to be okay now. She was just shocked at the truth but thanks to Saki and Yuuki her special friend being there she will be okay. Yuuki sorta panics at the words special friend and makes some excuse to leave the roof. That night Yuuki meets with Shougo as he has explained the situation to his friend. Shougo thinks knowing the truth is good, a positive thing. Maybe Kaori will forget things less. Yuuki seems to think he is in Kujou's position now and what if he causes Kaori to lose her memories one day? Shougo gets a little quiet. The next day Kaori is full of energy and excitement for the upcoming winter break. Yuuki blows her question off again which makes Kaori a sad panda. THE END!

You can do it Yuuki!

Well there is only ONE episode left of this series and we finally have the whole story on Kaori's condition. Is that going to be enough time to “cure” Kaori, get Yuuki to stop avoiding her, and have Kujou get some sort of resolution to his situation too? I guess this series could have another season but I feel as if it is the kind of series that gets 12 episodes of cute and moves on.

All my meltdowns and dramas seem to happen on Fridays so Mondays are a relief. XD

Despite Kujou coming back into her life and the two girls near the crepe store triggering her Kaori seems to be back on track with Yuuki. Yuuki even comments that she has been building up her memories again. I take that to mean she has started to recognize people quickly on Monday and to even know Yuuki before he introduces himself. For some reason I thought a great deal of time had passed since Kujou came to town but apparently it's only been two weeks. Maybe I am confused. Summer vacation ended and I thought Kujou appeared that same day. I guess a few months just passed of him being a quiet jerk next to Kaori and the crepe situation happened last week. That is very little progress between Kujou and Kaori. Awkward. Also no school festival, my heart is sad.

But if you don't mind could you please tell me about Kojou? Thanks.

Kaori seems to be okay with how things are. Probably because she has no idea how much she lost and the point she is at now is where she was at the end of summer. Only Yuuki, Shougo, and maybe part of Saki know that she took steps back. Yuuki really has gone through a lot though. A yoyo friendship. Still he goes at Kaori's pace and listens to her talk about her diary and how she is getting better. Fridays are no longer a burden to her and I think Yuuki is getting less stressed about Mondays. Although the Kujou incident will always be in the back of his mind, that something could always go wrong. While Kaori is skipping along Yuuki still has doubts. Enter the Shougo. Does Shougo ever have issues? It is always Yuuki going to him for help. Friendships are equal dude!!! Well Shougo still made me mad with his flippant attitude that Kaori forgets all the time but maybe he was just trying to make Yuuki feel better. Anyway Shougo is there to listen as Yuuki talks again about his doubts and what not. Shougo thinks Yuuki needs to chill and not worry himself to death but that is going to fall on deaf ears anyway so just nod your head and promise to pick up the pieces after the fact.

We are going to help even though we have no idea what is wrong! Yay girls!

Oh wait! Maybe Shougo will have an issue now. In the form of Saki and her annoying hair tie. Yeah this episode I finally had a rage moment against her useless and gravity defying hairtie. But yes Saki might be an issue for Shougo...since he likes her and all. Since Saki asked Shougo to be her husband last episode she apparently has been avoiding the kid. Her friends Ai and Maiko want to get to the bottom of this....you know, in the middle of the classroom where everyone can hear. Saki really wasn't telling her friends why she and Shougo can't talk so the girls are assuming it is Shougo's fault. Time to list all of his crazy faults and what not, with him listening in at the doorway. Saki seems like the kind of girl who would tell her friends everything so I am not sure why she didn't spill the beans. I don't see Shougo going to Yuuki for help though. This is a crush that probably has been building for years and he can handle it. I say crush but Saki acts more like a pet dog than potential girlfriend material.

Yeah because it happened so long ago....

Ai and Maiko have to protect their little Saki and to do that they need...Kaori. Yeah it makes little sense but I guess they are all friends so they should spend time together. It sorta blocks Yuuki from walking Kaori home but to be fair he does spend a lot of time with the girl. He wants her to branch out and have the ability to keep her memories but I am sure it would help if she spent time with other people besides him. I am sure he knows that too but it is hard to do in practice. Poor Yuuki. What will he do to occupy himself? Actually spend time with his friend Shougo without it being a pretense of a favor? HAHA not. Kujou was sticking around after class doing work (because schools in Japan are run by students) so Yuuki decided it was high time to ask him what was up.

Sure you don't.

Given what a brat Kujou has been about things (whether it is warranted or not) I thought it was brave and slightly foolish for Yuuki to ask that kid anything. But Yuuki really does want to help Kaori and if she is having meltdowns around Kujou well he better find out what is the issue. I don't really see it as him being nosy. Kujou starts off with his how should I know attitude but soon calls the other two girls since they were the ones who really caused the meltdown. Either way Yuuki was being super polite and cute about the whole thing. Like oh okay you don't know, well if you do learn something please tell me peace to you all. Just too polite to be a real kid you know? I would be grabbing collars and demanding answers since Kaori keeps having meltdowns about Kujou. Also my brain might be exploding at the idea of Kaori asking me (Yuuki) about Kujou. Like I don't know and maybe you shouldn't know either. Always bringing up the tough subjects! 

Yuuki is quite a special snowflake though. While waiting for the two girls to show up he and Kujou had some time to talk. And they actually did talk. Crazy right? Yuuki almost seemed....giddy to talk to Kujou about his past with Kaori. Like they were girlfriends talking about a cute boy. Instead Yuuki actually LIKES the girl that Kujou had this magical relationship with so wouldn't the answers hurt him? Yuuki is a strange little man. Maybe he was doing this to help Kaori but all I kept thinking to myself was how this was going to end in tears.

I am a confused, sad kid. :(

Kujou doesn't know if he wants to be a jerk or not. It's like he is constantly having a battle with himself. Do I hate Yuuki? Do I hate Kaori? Should I talk about how much I hate her or should I go on and on about her to make Yuuki jealous and to make myself almost cry? I am sure aside from the Kaori situation Kujou is a nice kid. He was just really hurt and that hurt came out in hurtful anger. I don't think he believed this memory thing yet as it does sound odd. But I would probably want to believe that over my special friend just not caring about me anymore. I rather cling to something you know? But for the meantime Kujou says he hates Kaori and must hate Yuuki for replacing him as the special friend so he must juggle that fine line. Bragging about how he spent so much time with Kaori even though they had a boatload of friends in the wing. But this all catches up to Kujou as he remembers those feelings, that they weren't going out but were special friends. He didn't even take the time to gloat that Yuuki is in the same boat and is potentially going to get hurt himself. Yuuki did all the worrying on his own though while Kujou wallowed in self pity.

Did Kaori forget that she was a mind reader?

These two girls finally show up and they have to be a little dramatic about Kaori's past. We got to stretch this out to the proper number of episodes you know. So what is the entire story behind Kaori being hit by a car? Surprisingly these girls were not involved. Kaori was super popular and had tons of friends but clearly liked hanging out with Kujou the best. Kujou was moving away and probably wanted to ask Kaori out, cement his special friend status. The other girls in the class got wind of this and being the 6th graders they were got upset. Because Kaori needs to read minds and know that one (maybe more) of her friends likes Kujou. So when Kaori went to the park to meet up with Kujou she instead found her friends all yelling at her while the Kujou liker cowarded in the background, like some grave injustice had been done to her. 6th grade girls are full of dramas. Kaori was upset over this yelling and probably shocked that Kujou liked her so she ran away, into a car. And this is the story of how Kaori lost her memories.

Time is money is Japan. We can't just be hanging out with friends for free.

While this was going on Kaori went with Saki and friends to discuss the Shougo situation...at a karaoke place. It seems rather odd since they didn't do any singing and going to a restaurant in the first place would have made more sense. Not to continue to the plot in a dramatic fashion so onward to karaoke. Basically the girls want Kaori to create an opportunity for Saki to talk to Shougo. Again with the dramatics as Kaori and Saki are just as close to Shougo as the other but then again the girls don't know what the problem is. I don't think Kaori needs to help Saki as her embarrassment is what is making things weird. Still they are friends and Kaori wants to help. Since it cost money to spend time at karaoke the girls head on over to a restaurant. Which restaurant do they have to continue this not very complicated topic? Oh the one Yuuki and company is at. I SEE INDEED.

Err....now you know?

Just as Kujou's old friends are explaining the situation Kaori and company walk into the same restaurant. Since Yuuki and Kaori are connected at the hip she was making her way over to the table to talk to her friend when BAM the entire truth was unloaded on Kaori. She was given a sliver of truth the last time she saw the girls but it isn't clear if Kaori knows what they said last time. What she wrote in her diary I mean. So either this was a whole lot of information at once or just the last piece of the puzzle. Either way Kaori reacted...rather softly. I guess if she was Kujou's friend now it would be a bigger shock. That he had romantic feelings for her and she was a homewrecker. Not really but that is what these girls are saying. Kaori just existing caused problems so yeah....her crying and running away now and then makes sense. What else could the girl do? It still seems extreme, for her to forget all her friends for the rest of her life because of this issue. Delicate flower indeed but dang girls can be awful in school. Tears for Kaori.

:( That is kinda sad....

Despite being...Kujou you have to feel bad for the kid. He was moving away and all he wanted was to..be special, SPECIAL friends with Kaori. I guess ask her out in case he came back later. And because some jealous girls got in the way Kaori forgot about him and he blames himself for her troubles. :( I really don't see it that way. It's not his fault at all but in this anime where feeling a certain way could be troublesome for others clearly you are a bad person. Actually that might be a Japan thing that seems blown out of proportion to my American self. You must really consider all options and situations to not embarrass another and since something bad happened to Kaori it is all Kujou's fault. Yuuki...sat there and listened, part because he is a good kid and part because this is the story of his life.

Like for real fine or girl fine?

When Monday rolled around Kaori was okay. How she manages to read that many diaries in the morning is beyond me. A fast reader I suppose. Unless she is lying about being okay Kaori wasn't in tears. I guess the one good thing about forgetting issues is that the bad memories fade away too. I wonder if Yuuki and Saki hadn't been there would Kaori have remembered the entire scene? Anyway Kaori is happy she knows the truth. Maybe she is okay now. All she needed was to have the whole picture in her head and she could move on. It's like being afraid of the unknown and when you find out the awful truth you can accept it and more on. Or curl up into a ball and cry about it. Kaori doesn't seem to be crying anymore but she could be lying to protect Yuuki. Either way the boy doesn't know what to think.

Yuuki is a whirlwind of feelings so which ones are you talking about?

Cue the Shougo because that is what he is good for. Since Shougo wasn't at the restaurant he had to be briefed on the situation. Shougo seems to think this is all positive stuff. Kaori knows the truth and might remember things better. Things could improve. But for Yuuki...all he could think was how he was the new Kujou. Accidentally of course on the side of Yuuki and Kaori. She wasn't looking to replace Kujou and he wasn't only helping her because he liked her. But the situation is the same, special friend word being used all over the place. So of course Yuuki is worried the same situation might happen. Well not the SAME as girls aren't throwing themselves all over Yuuki but still. I get his concerns. If Kaori is fragile enough for allow some 6th grade drama to take over her life who knows what else might affect her? If I were Yuuki I be weary of the situation too but not flat out ignore the girl. I guess Yuuki took a step in the middle Still being Kaori's friend but not making future plans or being overly special with her. Yuuki is just a kid, not a doctor. This of course leads to a confused/sad Kaori, a sad Yuuki, and a concerned Shougo. Maybe Kaori is strong enough to deal with things now. Yuuki doesn't want to hurt her so he doesn't want to take that risk but I am assuming something has to give. A New Year's Eve wish? HMMM guess we will have to find out next time.