Hello. What do you think about Chihaya's different reaction to Arata and Taichi's confession? The way i see it, one made her fidgety, embarrassed, and seemingly out of place; the other made her thoughtful and subdued her spirits in a way. How do you analyze this?
Chihaya’s reaction to Taichi’s confession is, obviously enough, similar to Arata’s realization in regard to how he looks down on Taichi – both of them fail to see *Taichi* as ‘equal’. While for Arata it’s a realization that Taichi *does* have a place in the Karuta world beyond mere knowing that *his* friends are also there, for Chihaya it’s a realization that Taichi is seeking a kind of connection with her *outside* the ambit of Karuta. The fact that the first thing that came into Chihaya’s mind while Taichi was confessing his feelings for her is Arata’s own confession speaks volume to me, because that’s when Chihaya finally understood what Arata is offering (to/for) her (a lifetime of Karuta-playing), and the only thing she could say is *sorry* to Taichi’s own confession. That’s not a person who is indecisive but someone who, even though she’s struggling in her dream, still doesn’t falter in her dreaming. For me, the confession of Taichi speaks about how they are both in standstill. That it happens in the room where they spend their high school also speaks about how the relationship may not have a *future* that can situate Chihaya in the place she loves the most: Karuta. I’m being repetitive here because it has to be underlined over and over that everything Chihaya has done, from joining the track & field in middle school to wanting to be a teacher all leads to her own “obsession”, how to be part and perpetuate the existence of the Karuta world. The time Tachi confessed, he withheld that life from her, and so the “cards” turned to darkness, because the cards are supposed to be their medium of communication, not of their disconnection and misunderstanding. It’s a hurtful confession because Chihaya finally realized how she is hurting the person who stayed by her side the most.
Chihaya’s reaction to Arata’s confession is, for the lack of a better word, the typical reaction of a girl in love. That she is confusing Arata’s love to her own love for Karuta is exactly the point, and not, as Kanade wants her to do, something she has to think separately. “So if you like, let’s play Karuta then” is indeed not something you can take lightly. I love everything about the confession of Arata (and how he just voiced it out right at the moment he realized it lol) to Chihaya’s own reaction to it. I love that Chihaya has never ever given Arata’s confession a closure, which means, at least for me, that she really does have strong feelings for him outside *friendship*. You know the difference? When it comes to Arata’s confession, Chihaya was also able to understand the poems better, to the point that she *made* her own beautiful poems as well. That indeed, Karuta is their medium of communication.
This is basically how I saw the two confessions.
