We’ve been focused on Kyo for the last few chapters, so now we finally zoom out to see how the others are faring in light of recent events.

Kyo declares his intention to not let Yuki provoke him to anger anymore, at which Yuki proceeds to insult and provoke him more.  It doesn’t take too long to get a reaction.

Kyo: I’ve had it up to here with you! Man, you piss me off! I’ll hate you and hate you and hate you ‘til I’m in the grave!

Yuki: He stole my line. Except I’ll continue to hate him even from my grave.

It seems like Yuki is irritated by Kyo’s eagerness to change.

Now that all the excitement is over, Tohru’s worried more about Yuki (who’s certainly been pretty mopey) and Kagura (who left without saying goodbye to her the morning after the ordeal).

Fortunately, Haru is around to coax Yuki out a little.

Haru: Did something happen? You look kinda blue.

Yuki: I’m struggling at the moment, so don’t make it worse with talk like that.

Haru: Struggling, huh?

Yuki: […] Yes, something did “happen.” But I’m not telling you what it was. (internally) For now, I’m keeping the lid on, tight. About his form and everything else…well, everything. If I don’t, my sordid emotions will overflow. Hatred, disgust, I’ll be engulfed by those filthy feelings, and I never want that to happen again. Right now, the lid is still on. But I’m sure that one day, when I’ve gotten it together…

He has a flood of different feelings that he hasn’t even begun to sort through.  He needs to talk it out with someone in order to get it all together, but he doesn’t really have anyone he can talk to like that.  I mean, Haru is good at sensing people’s feelings and offering support, but Yuki seems to want advice of some sort.  It’s really tough when you have so many things you want to discuss but no one to discuss them with.

At any rate, Haru does his best to bring Yuki back to reality.

Haru: Honda-san was worried about you. […] Well, whether you express your feelings or not is up to you, Yuki, but it would be decent of you to put her mind at ease. At least for Honda-san. I’m worried about you too.

Yuki: Oh, come on, you worry too much about other people.

Haru: What can I say? Maybe it’s my personality. But I’d rather see you having fun than suffering.

Haru is certainly a person who cares deeply about the wellbeing of his loved ones.

Yuki: Honda-san, I tie my necktie a lot faster than I used to. I get all my shirt buttons fastened too somehow. I don’t let as many vegetables wither in my garden. And I think I’ve become more sociable. Those are trivial things, but the idea is that by working on the things I’m bad at, even little by little, maybe I’ll change. But I’ve still got a long way to go. I made you worry about me, didn’t I, Honda-san? I’m sorry. I’m still so lame, and there’s still so much I haven’t been able to tell you yet, Honda-san. But that too, little by little…

It can be frustrating to see how some people just seem to change their lives overnight when you’re struggling to change the smallest things, especially when you’ve got your feelings all bottled up and feel like it would be so much easier if you could get it off your chest but lack the opportunity.  Basically, I’ve been there.

Yuki: Between fireworks, festivals, and the beach, I can probably make lots of good memories. With you, Honda-san. Unless you don’t want to? If you don’t want to come, I’ll kidnap you, so be prepared…Just kidding!

Tohru is so surprised she…collapses and hits her head? I mean, her surprised reactions are kind of hilarious, but this is certainly a new side of Yuki, and it feels a little weird to see him like that with Tohru.

Yuki: Kagura’s struggling too, in her own way.

I can’t help but think that some part of Kagura was hoping that Tohru would reject Kyo when she saw his true form, but at any rate, she seems to have come out of it with a lot more respect for Tohru.  She’s surprisingly inscrutable for such a seemingly simple character (but maybe that’s just me).

Evidently Ayame caught wind that his little brother might be in need of comforting…poor Yuki.

From here on out, it’s more a question of what parts made it into the anime than what was left out.  The gag with Yuki and Kyo made it in somewhere (can’t remember exactly which episode), but that’s about it.

Until next time…