*Minami-Kun No Koibito – I Know I Can’t Be The One*

This episode wasn’t as great as they have been, but there are some cute moments between our leads and Chiyomi wears some adorable outfits! And those dreams… I thought it was normally the female leads who had the wild and crazy dreams! haha

Chiyomi wakes up and thinks that for girls, seeing the sleeping face of someone they like is a happy moment. She steps closer to Shunichi’s head and his eyes suddenly open.

However, he is now dressed and on his desk, and a lot smaller than usual! Shunichi is shocked to see Chiyomi, who is her normal size, and he is not happy when she puts him in her pocket. Apparently he can’t breathe and it’s very cushiony (he’s referring to her boobs! Ha!). 

She takes him out of the pocket, but when he looks up to see who is holding him, this time it is Nomura, who wants to kiss him! In “real life” Chiyomi gently kisses him on the cheek, which causes him to stir a little, and then because of the nightmare (?) he shoots up to a sitting position. Chiyomi asks if he is okay, and an out-of-breath and rather confused looking Shunichi says he is. Chiyomi then says good morning and he says it back and smiles (he is relieved that things are the same as he left them!).

At school, Ami denies having tried to contact Chiyomi when Riku asks her (so I was wrong… hmm). Riku takes his figurine out to have a look and as Shunichi comes by he gives it a look of distate, however, Riku is shocked to see Chiyomi in Shunichi’s pocket.

Shunichi walks off and Chiyomi has quickly hidden inside the pocket. This leaves Riku in shock and he goes to confront/ask Shunichi about it, but Nomura comes over and starts manhandling his figurine. This annoys Ami who takes it off her. Riku heads to his seat, still in a daze and tells Ami that Shunichi has a figurine as well that “looked so real.”

Meanwhile, Asuka is making her way to Shunichi’s home.

After school, Nomura goes to her father’s hospital and is introduced to Dr. Koide Reiko, who excuses herself. Nomura asks her father whether he liked Emiko in the past. Dr. Nomura insists that he was only helping her, as they have known each a long time, when he gave her a job at the hospital.

Dr. Nomura then relates to his daughter that the recommendation to Takasu University was declined. This shocks Nomura, but what shocks her more is her father’s news that he is thinking about marriage: to Dr. Koide. She storms out of the office and is further upset by her father’s attitude and putting his image above her feelings (but why is she bringing her mother into it, I thought she didn’t see her as a mother?).

Emiko sees this argument and runs after Nomura when she leaves.

Back to Asuka, who seems to be doing some trespassing, as grandma has fallen asleep in the dining room. She goes up to Shunichi’s room and is a little shocked when she sees the little bed by his and the box of dolls clothes. She imagines him making the handmade dress and wonders if he is a pervert! (Her imagination made him creepy! haha).

Asuka then spots his tablet and decides to have a snoop there too. She opens it and his email is open.

Shunichi comes home from school and wonders if his grandma is okay. At this point she wakes up and Asuka comes down the stairs. Apparently Asuka came over to see how she was (so she didn’t let herself into the house, just his bedroom!). Shunichi is shocked to discover Asuka has been in his room.

Once in his room, he quickly hides Chiyomi’s bed (even though she’s obviously seen it!), while Asuka gets her books out of her back and tries to decide what homework she wants help with. Shunichi then tells her that as he is a man, it isn’t right for her to be in his room.

Asuka then says that it’s okay for him to attack her, and while Shunichi looks like he might have a mental breakdown, Asuka starts laughing at how he is panicking. Shunichi then quickly kneels down next to her and changes the topic by asking what homework she needs help on! (Asuka is pretty funny!).

It doesn’t seem that Shunichi or Chiyomi can be given a break from females, as when his mother comes home later, she has brought Nomura with her.

Later on they sit down for a meal, prepared by Nomura, and though the conversation is happy for a while, Nomura changes the tone. Emiko asks her if she is upset that her father is thinking of remarriage and Nomura tells them that she is attached to her father and has realised that she does care that her mother left them.

Nomura sort of understands why her mother left and the feelings she had, as there are times when she is left alone for long periods of time by her father. Emiko says that there are reasons for the other person leaving, which saddens grandma.

Nomura then confesses that his father is going to make another mistake by marrying someone he doesn’t love again. She says that he loved someone else, implying Emiko, and begins to cry again. Emiko goes over to her and comforts her with a hug (is she scheming right now? She seems to be looking at Shunichi a lot to see if he has taken her story how she hopes he would…). 

Later that evening Shunichi walks into the bathroom, not realising Nomura is having a shower (at least I think not… or he was using the toilet in the adjoining room?). He goes to leave, but Nomura opens the door, holding the shower curtain to her front. Nomura asks Shunichi to bring her the towel she left outside and, a shocked and flustered Shunichi runs out to do so.

While Shunichi is doing his homework he agrees with Chiyomi that he’s had a hard day. Chiyomi (who listened to the dinner conversation from the top of the stairs) notes that he and Nomura have the same kind of family life. She goes to say something, but stops at “that’s why you are…”. Shunichi asks what she was going to say, but she says it’s nothing and forget it.

Nomura then knocks on the door (looks like someone has managed to get herself invited to stay the night). Chiyomi hides and Shunichi goes to answer the door. Without getting permission (from a very flustered Shunichi) she comes into the room and sits on his bed!

Nomura brings up the scholarship and how if he accepted the recommendation offer from her father he wouldn’t have to go far away. However, Shunichi is adamant in his decline. Nomura gets up and starts confessing to him! (Shunichi looks both confused and terrified). Chiyomi, who is watching, is very upset.

Because Shunichi is not answering whether he likes her or not, Nomura asks him if he likes Chiyomi. He laughs it off and says of course not (*sighs*). Nomura thinks it is then okay to go in to kiss him, but his mind brings up his nightmare and he practically throws himself out of the danger zone!

Shunichi tells him he doesn’t want to do things like that and Nomura tells him that her feelings can get hurt (what?… seriously? He was nice, I would have been like, wow girl, I don’t feel comfortable when you try to force you face onto me, get out! ugh). She leaves (looking way too sorry for herself! And Shunichi looks like he’s guilty of doing something wrong. Which he hasn’t).

He then thinks about Chiyomi, and tells her it’s okay to come out now. Shunichi hears her crying and he goes over to his desk, asking why she is crying. Chiyomi tells him she is okay, but he tries to push further, which makes her snap at him that she is okay (he is really not having a good day!).

While Shunichi is asleep, Chiyomi updates her new story. This post is about how the “big man” only looks after her because she is small and that there is a person his size better suited to him.

“All I can do is to dance on his palm. All I am is a burden to him. I  musn’t have such an ambitious dream as to be loved by him.”

(Of course Riku is reading this update. Does he just sit in front of his laptop on that page for hours, refreshing every few minutes, just hoping something will appear?…).

Chiyomi sits on Shunichi’s bed and watches him sleep, while she cries, realising that she knew all this from the beginning. She goes to kiss him on the cheek and the walks back to her bed.

Shunichi wakes up and is shocked to see Nomura sitting on the edge of his bed. She is in a black nightdress and undoes Shunichi’s hoodie and shows us his bare chest. Shunichi is completely dazed. Chiyomi then wakes up and starts shouting, but Nomura puts a glass over her.

Shunichi tries to reach for Chiyomi, but Nomura stops him. She then climbs on top of Shunichi, so they are lying down. When she goes in for the kiss, Shunichi wakes up! (this kid and his dreams! Also, does Chiyomi kissing him on the cheek just automatically bring on these weird scenes?! haha).

Awake for real this time, Shunichi immediately looks over at Chiyomi to make sure she is alright. And she is, fast asleep and body sprawled all over her little bed! (so cute~).

The next morning, Chiyomi watches (from the balcony… well it’s technically a balcony for Chiyomi, right?) as Shunichi heads to school, while Nomura heads to her home.

At school, in a desolate area, Shunichi gives Yabuki back the dirty magazine and tells him never to give him that kind of thing ever again. Yabuki seems to “understand” and realises what he really needs.

Apparently, what Shunichi needs is a karaoke session… well, one that includes girls. Before the ‘party’ begins, Shunichi and Yabuki are alone in the room and Yabuki tells him that he is popular but too uptight. And now that he is finally horny, he just has to let it out. Yabuki shows him the two college girls who are coming, and keeps having to grab Shunichi from escaping.

However, when the two women do turn up, both Shunichi and Yabuki want to escape (they were catfished?! haha). Shunichi manages, but in doing so he sacrifices Yabuki to the two women!

Once he is home and in his room, he calls out to Chiyomi (he sounds like he really wants a hug from her!). Chiyomi comes out of hiding and tells him that grandma saw her just now.

However, it didn’t go the way you would think… grandma was happy to see her and not shocked at all. Chiyomi tells him that grandma got some snacks and they chatted for a while (is grandma getting senile?…)

Chiyomi then asks if Shunichi can smell burning and he rushes down the stairs to turn the stove off as grandma has gotten distracted from her cooking by the tv. However, she doesn’t seem fussed and when he confronts her, grandma calls him ‘Noboru’. And then she happily tells him that she got a visit from the one-inch princess today (please don’t make me cry over grandma! I don’t know if my heart could handle anything happening to her!!)

Meanwhile, Asuka is checking her emails and wishing Chiyomi would write more often. Asuka then does a double-take as she realises the email address that Chiyomi uses is the same one that was open on Shunichi’s tablet. She then wonders if Chiyomi was using that device to send the emails.

Back in Shunichi’s room, the pair are sharing pudding. They both hope that grandma is okay, and then Shunichi changes the topic. He tells Chiyomi he thought she didn’t eat this late and she happily say that it’s before 10pm! (perfect excuse!). 

Shunichi then laughs and tells her that she has caramel on her face. When she can’t find it, Shunichi wipes it away for her. Chiyomi notes in voiceover that it seems that Shunichi has gotten nicer, however, she changes her mind when he finishes what is left of the pudding in one go!

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Additional Comments:

This episode isn’t the best one so far and it may have been the most disappointing in my opinion. So much happened, but so little changed…

The relationship with Shunichi and Nomura is still the same, despite so much happening. I wish Shunichi would tell her more firmly that he is uncomfortable with her actions and then do some thinking of his own to realise why that is! *cough* Chiyomi *cough*

And the relationship between our two leads, has had some subtle changes, which I like. I guess it shows a more natural progression. I like the way that Shunichi says her name now, there is a lot of feeling behind it I feel. And I love that the first thing he does in the morning, is check on Chiyomi. However, I do wish Shunichi wasn’t so dumb haha ^^”

Nomura is a hard one. I don’t know if the story she told was real or not, which makes me a little uncomfortable. I want to feel sorry for her, but I don’t know if she deserves that sympathy…

And why is she trying to set up her father with Emiko?! I don’t understand… does she want some ‘dangerous sibling’ thing going on?!

In this episode, the suspicion is becoming more evident. Asuka is suspicious of Shunichi, for several reasons, and now she has the e-mail address to be more suspicious of in relation to Chiyomi. And then we have Ami who knows Chiyomi is not at the workshop in Tokyo. I did think that Ami would have told Riku, or at least someone, so I’ll be interested to see what she does with the information.

And finally, we have grandma… who it seems may be getting old, in the sense that she may have memory problems. Especially as she called Shunichi ‘Noboru’. *sigh* thinking of how this could turn out is making me sad already… I hope this drama doesn’t take this turn!

And now I have to wait 15 days for the next episode! From the preview it looks like things are heating up in the Horikiri residence and I want to watch it now! But I can be patient as there are plenty of other dramas for me to catch up on! haha ^^”

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Thank you for reading~