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|---|---|
| Chapter 30 | |
| Volume | 5 |
| Arc | Part 3 of the Hoshinome School Festival Story Arc |
| Relationship milestones | Cute Hayakawa, with her shirt unzipped to show her lacy bra, and sporting a bruise by her left eye, asks Tsubaki to pretend to be her boyfriend, and 'date' her at the Hoshinome Cultural Festival. |
| Previous ← Mysterious Letter of Challenge |
Next Mysterious Cultural Festival 1 → |
| List of Volumes and Chapters | |
MYSTERIOUS CULTURAL FESTIVAL-THE NIGHT BEFORE---
CHAPTER 30 OF THE MANGA
( PART 3 OF THE HOSHINOME SCHOOL FESTIVAL
STORY ARC )
( Anime cross-reference---Compressed and included in Anime
Episode 10, " Mysterious Affair " )
Summary[]
A phone call at home one evening, just before supper, brings Tsubaki outside to a public phone in the neighborhood. He meets a very distraught Hayakawa, who nonchalantly shows him a bruise on the side of her forehead. It supposedly was from the guy that she was shipping with, occurring when he hit her in an angry rage ! She implores Tsubaki to come to the Hoshinome Cultural Festival, as her boyfriend. This to supposedly invoke shame in the guy so that he will leave her alone. Against his better judgement, Tsubaki reluctantly agrees. Hayakawa turns and walks away. Some distance away, at a public water fountain, Hayakawa washes away the makeup that gave her the appearance of having a bruise.
Next day after their daily drool routine, Urabe asks Tsubaki if he is going to do anything next Sunday ( the Sunday of the Hoshinome Cultural Festival ). He says that he is going shopping with Ueno. Urabe knows something is 'fishy' (Hayakawa told her that Tsubaki will be at the festival Sunday), but says nothing.
Next day, Urabe and Oka are sharing lunch, as they always do. Oka asks about going to the Hoshinome Cultural Festival, but Urabe pretends ignorance. Oka is going with Ueno ! Urabe mearly repeats that Tsubaki is going shopping with Ueno on Sunday. Oka points out the contradiction of the information, and that Tsubaki is either confused, or outright lying. Urabe is left to ponder the ramifications.
On Sunday morning, Urabe rises, slips a pair of scissors into her panties, dresses herself in a sailor suit, and leaves to attend the festival.
Plot[]
Youko is busy cooking, so Tsubaki takes a phone call one evening. It is Hayakawa, and she urgently wants him to meet her outside, not far from his house. Youko objects because it is so close to dinnertime, but Tsubaki goes out anyway. He sees Hayakawa at a public phone booth just down the street. Not only is she wearing a tight-fitting hoodie sweater partially unzipped to show her lacy bra, but she is sporting what looks like a bruise next to her left eye. A concerned Tsubaki inquires, and is told that the boy who was shipping with Hayakawa supposedly hit her in a fit of rage. She wants Tsubaki to attend the Hoshinome Cultural Festival with her as her one-time boyfriend, so as to drive the shipped boy away with shame and regret, when he catches sight of the two of them together. Tsubaki naturally objects, since he already has a girlfriend ( Urabe ), but Hayakawa really piles on the charm and her-as-a-victim angle. With her now almost crying in anguish, Tsubaki, against his better judgement, agrees to her request. A tearful Hayakawa collapses on his chest with heartfelt relief. As she turns and slowly walks away, Tsubaki knows that he is short-changing Urabe, but confirms to himself that he is going to do it, regardless. A short distance away, Hayakawa comes upon a playground with a public water fountain. She wets a cloth and washes away the makeup that formed the bruise, all the while looking very sullen and apprehensive.
Next afternoon, after their daily drool routine, Urabe asks Tsubaki what he is doing this coming Sunday. With his conscience gagged, and his now darkened heart churning out fabrications, he tells Urabe that he is going shopping with Ueno. Urabe is expressionless, but knowing all the time what Hayakawa had told her, that Tsubaki will be at the Hoshinome Cultural Festival on Sunday, attending by himself. Urabe thinks to herself, all the while not showing any emotion, 'Why is my boyfriend, who just shared a drool bond with me, why is he lying to me ?'
Next day at school, during the lunchtime that Urabe and Oka always share together now, Oka brings up the subject of the Hoshinome Cultural Festival, to be happening this Sunday. Urabe feigns ignorance, but Oka declares that she, herself, will definitely be going. Oka next suggests that Urabe go with Tsubaki, to make it into a date, since she and Ueno are going as a dating couple. Urabe flatly states that she would not be able to go with Tsubaki, since he is going shopping with Ueno on Sunday. Pointing out the obvious, that Ueno will be with her on Sunday, Oka tells Urabe that Tsubaki must be mistaken, or he is outright lying to her about his Sunday plans. Urabe again feigns ignorance, but in her mind she recalls that Hayakawa told her that Tsubaki will absolutely be at the festival, alone, for sure !
That Sunday morning, Urabe awakes to the alarm, places a pair of scissors in her clean, white panties, dresses herself in a sailor suit, and heads on out to the Hoshinome Cultural Festival. It is early morning, but crowds of people are already lined up at the entrance gate to the festival.
Commentary and Opinion[]
By CuteButLooksLolita
<<<<<<<<SPOILER ALERT>>>>>>>>SPOILERS AHEAD<<<<<<<<SPOILER ALERT>>>>>>>>
A very distraught Hayakawa, suffering from extreme anguish and anxiousness because of a possible shipping that she was supposedly a part of, but that subsequently has gone sour, begins to institute the clever plan that was hatched in her mind, heart, and soul when she lay in her bed at night recently. But why would such a nice girl as she, suddenly descend into deceit and subterfuge ? There seems to be two facets of human nature, one outside of her, and one within her, that are now at cross-purposes. One one hand, others can and have observed how pleasing and attractive Hayakawa has become, even attaining the almost impossible status of concurrently being both sweet / innocent, as well as hardcore sexy, and more so with each passing year. We know this because she was the most popular girl in middle school, with all the boys admiring her, rightly so. Their perceptions of Hayakawa are all positive, and are all socially correct as to her looks and personality. But Hayakawa doesn't see it that way. On the other hand, with all of her good looks and agreeable attributes, she actually has a low self-opinion of herself, and that leads to little or no self-confidence in any social arena that she cares to be a part of. This because, although she had the pick of all the boys and their attention in middle school, and all the attention of the girls in high school, she does not have what she ultimately wants, possibly to Drool Bond with a boy or girl so as to experience such a deep and committed relationship that that would entail. * So she ends up feeling so worthless because of that, and this is what is driving her now. *
With the apparent breakup of the ship that she wanted to be in, Hayakawa must have been surprised and pleased that Tsubaki wanted to taste her drool. But that was not to be, as the specter of Urabe came between them, causing Tsubaki to decline at the last second. Now emboldened by the almost Drool Bond that she came so close to enjoying, the Drool Bond that she could have had in middle school, but due to the circumstances of the unrequited love present *, was denied such, so she now embarks on a devious plan to try and separate Urabe and Tsubaki, so as to have another shot at shipping with Tsubaki. Now with this quest and feeling that has such a grip on her heart, she is presently 'not herself' *, and becomes the agent of many crafty acts that are so outside and opposite of her true self and good nature.
( * Pure speculation or opinion )
__________________________
Now a second red flag has appeared in Urabe's mind. She already knows what Hayakawa told her, that Tsubaki will be at the Hoshinome Cultural Festival on Sunday, so why is Tsubaki telling her that he is going shopping with Ueno on Sunday ? Then Oka tells her that Ueno will be with her Sunday, as they are going out on a date to the Festival. A third red flag ! It just doesn't add up !
__________________________
" Your conscience can either accuse you, or excuse you. "
---Ancient Wise Proverb
Remember when Tsubaki told himself ( Manga Chapter 28 ) that he can never, ever tell Urabe about his meeting with Hayakawa, and that he asked to taste her drool ? His conscience should accuse him, for doing something that looks like a compromise of his relationship with Urabe. Instead, his conscience seems to excuse him, so that he agrees to be Hayakawa's seemingly steady boyfriend. Further, his conscience 'looks the other way' when he decides to lie to Urabe, telling her that he is going shopping with Ueno, when he knows what he is going to actually do on Sunday. Wither he realizes it or not, Tsubaki is digging his own grave, socially speaking, by thinking that he can fool the attendees of the Festival as to being Hayakawa's boyfriend, and can fool Urabe into thinking he is with Ueno on Sunday.
" Oh what a tangled web we weave,
when at first we decide to deceive. "
---Ancient Wise Proverb