And what happened beforehand gets revealed. Were you shocked? No? Yep, that’s what I thought.

Now, wouldn’t it be safer for someone to PULL the other person out of the way instead of always diving on top of the other person to shield him or her? Jumping INTO the situation puts the rescuer in danger as well, as opposed to pulling the other OUT of it. How many times have we seen someone jump out and push a person away from an speeding car or a falling object? The breast grab gets negated, so that’s a downside, but Kashimashi moments and the subsequent misunderstandings would be avoided.

HAZUKI used LEER! Wild YUTO’s DEFENSE fell!

Between Nanami and Hazuki, I would rather have Nanami angry with than Hazuki. Hazuki seems like one of those people who would be entirely uncomfortable to be around. A cold stare would burn a hole right through you and remarks that would be terse yet lingeringly painful to hear.

From a strictly platonic standpoint, out of all the characters Sexy Mika-chan would probably be the most entertaining character to actually hang out with. While making large pancakes and shopping for Nintendo-Sega-Sony hybrid portables with Haruka have their appeal, Mika definitely has her own intoxicating charm and attractiveness. Mika also strikes me as jack-of-all-trades kind of person. Spooling thread and watching Binchou-tan could potentially go from “KILL ME NOW!” boredom to Six Flags fun because of Mika.

Cosplay makes it all better. But bah… Lunatic Charm Shiina does nothing for me. Haruka wins by default because everyone else in the Miss Hakugen cotest was covered in meh. Hazuki and Nanami in their usual maid attire would provide more competition. I do give an effort award to the girl who had the Azumanga-like hat.

Tsch… >_>

Hazuki x Eric

This is precisely why Mika, Nanami, and Hazuki are necessary to this series. It it were just Yuto, Haruka, and Shiina, things would get stale pretty quick. Their hijinks mesh well within the context of the series and never come across as randomly placed or out of line. Even though Hazuki’s Eric story seemed out of character for her, it worked wonders in the big picture. Being Haruka’s personal maid, you would expect her to much more concerned about her. Furthermore, you’d not only expect her to be somewhat peeved with Yuto, but also be the one who would go out of her way to try and rectify the situation. Stuffed animal or not, she was the one that provided the final nudge that got Haruka and Yuto together. Hazuki cracking a smile was icing on the cake.

And with that Haruka and Yuto look to have finally reached couple status. It really was just a matter of time before it happened, but I’m actually quite surprised how easily Shiina was brushed aside and how fairly easy Haruka and Yuto got together. I don’t hide the fact that I have zero love for Shiina, but it’s shocked that her sole role was reduced to “girl Yuto falls on top of accidentally.” They could have done that with ANY character in the show, from Sexy Mika-chan, to the green-haired twintail girl, to Nobunaga in a wig. Unless she goes yandere on everyone, at this moment, her role as Essentially Useless Girl B stands. 100% generic, 100% replaceable.

So what becomes of the final 2 episodes? Haruka has already came to terms with her father and her and Yuto are now apparently a couple. That really only leaves Haruka’s secret getting revealed to the student body, which was the big secret in the very beginning, and whether or not it was Yuto was the destined childhood meeting that got her the first issue of Innocent Smile. There’s also Shiina, but yeah, whatever. Episode 11’s title, “Sorry For Making You Wait,” almost cries out date episode. Regardless of what happened next time, we’re nearing the end. When Haruka and her father resolved their differences, I worried that this series would loose momentum. Fortunately, it didn’t. With another major plot line looking to be concluded here, I can again only hope that the momentum doesn’t dwindle. At the very least, episode 11 should pick up steam, so 12 ends things nicely.