Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu 03 ~I’m Finished~

Yuuto was making his way to Haruka’s house when she invited him over to study for their finals. But he got lost because of the awfully drawn map she provided. He was assisted by a little girl he met on the street who drew him a much more comprehensible map. He got there and after trekking the Nogizaka’s enormous front lawn, he observed that Haruka’s room was devoid of manga and anime stuff. she admitted that eventhough she wanted to, her hobby is also a secret from her family since her father thinks that anime is not good for a person’s health.

They have been studying seriously (Well, she was. He kept looking at her collarbone and somewhere slightly lower.) and after a cliché picking-up-a-dropped-eraser doki-doki moment, they were interrupted by the little girl Yuuto encountered on the street – who happens to be Haruka’s little sister, Miko. She pulled him out and asked him if he knew about Haruka’s secret hobby. And when he finally admitted it, she asked him not to abandon her sister, which wasn’t even a consideration for Yuuto.

After the finals, Haruka was inviting Yuuto to come with her to a Summer Convention when a guy horsing around bumped her in the hallway causing her to drop her bag and have the contents slip out. Among other things, inside was a comic catalog. Everyone started whispering around her. And eventhough Yuuto already convincingly claimed the comic catalog for himself saying that Haruka was just kind enough to pick it up for him when he lost it, she stopped coming to school. On the third day, when the bullying towards his otaku-ness still hasn’t subsided, Yuuto became worried about her when she still hasn’t showed up to school.

He was on his way out when a guy told him off that a perverted otaku like him should not be hanging around with a girl like her. He just took it in stride and headed for her house where he was confronted by her sister, accusing him of weird stuff from revealing her secret to making her dress up in weird hentai stuff. After Yuuto assured her that he didn’t, Miko started telling him about the time when Haruka was in elementary school and her secret was revealed when friends and classmates shunned her which was why she transferred to another school. After a lot of convincing, Haruka finally let Yuuto in her room and she admitted to him that what she hated was the feeling of being alone. But Yuuto assured her that she wasn’t alone because he was there for her and that friends who stop being friends because of that are not real friends. She was very happy that she wasn’t alone, asked him never to leave her and they hugged ~_~’ but is again interrupted by the loli and the maids.

The next day, they were walking to school when the guy who confronted Yuuto in the shoe locker room came up to them and told Haruka that an otaku like him is not a suitable companion for Haruka. Yuuto was about to fight him when Haruka threw him to the ground, telling him that Yuuto is blah, blah and blah and that if he had a problem with that weird catalog, he oughta tell it to her face since it belonged to her, not Yuuto.

This episode was nice, but quite predictable. The only thing that throws me off is that after multiple fanservice I’ve been exposed to for the last couple of seasons, the fact that the awful, often too-stupid misunderstandings and boobs & panties being shoved on the main lead guy’s face is not there. Well, it’s not like I’m complaining… In fact, I’m relieved. I mean, it was great to see a normal reaction of a teenage boy to a guy little loli – “Aww, you’re cute.” Too often times, it would immediate head for pedobearing.

So Haruka admitted to someone and to a couple of by-standers that she owned the catalog. Does this mean that her secret will no longer be a secret? She has already been assured that she will not be abandoned or alone because she has Yuuto. I kind hope so since I don’t like episode after another of Haruka doing something weird or clumsy, Yuuto will just be there to bail her out. Also, that would radically develop the story more.

So…. Haruka was 12-ish when she was found out and shunned because of her otaku habits. Twelve… I was in sixth grade and beating the crap out of my guys friends in street hockey and everyone in my class in an all-girls’ school were crazy over Dragonball…robably because it’s what the boys liked. I was actually considered uncool for not liking it (I watched Dragonball in college) because what I liked to watch was Ranma ½, Candy Candy and Sailormoon. You can’t watch anime when you’re in grade school??? Have things changed that much already??? Shit... I just made myself sound like an old hag...
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