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Kamihoshi Thereafter

Kadota tries to do his best as captain but Nitaku is the type that won’t heed the advice of people he believes are inferior to him in skill. Kido wears Yugami’s old baseball hat now because Yugami had planned to just throw it out. Kadota is devastated by this! It’s super effective! But then he’s like, “Whatever, like I care. I’m still gonna do my best regardless” as he kicks a stray rock.

Kadota sulking and being vaguely jealous (?) is cute.

Nogami is now president of the Handicraft Club and as always, they can see the baseball team passing by from their clubroom. She takes one look out the window at the extremely happy Nitaku and tells her underclassmen to steer clear of the baseball team because they have a negative energy around them. Nitaku + Nogami spinoff when? I would love to see their antics.

Komai also goes back to the Handicraft Club whenever he starts to loathe being on the baseball team. It appears Kadota has to fetch him. Kadota has it rough.

Kadota and Yukko

Yuuko tells Kadota about how Yugami is doing from time to time and while it’s amusing to hear about how Yugami is fighting with his catcher on-and-off, Kadota is shaken when Yuuko says Yugami has quit the college baseball team. Kadota laments how it’s because he’s not Yugami’s catcher anymore that things have gone south for the guy, to the point he’s quit baseball. Yuuko denies it but Kadota ain’t listening and she’s just very entertained by his reactions.

Kadota and Yugami

Just as Kadota’s wondering why Yugami quit the team, the man himself shows up on his delivery scooter. Kadota makes small talk with Yugami and completely misses his chance to ask WHY’D YOU QUIT THE TEAM because Yugami peaces out after the pleasantries are over. Turns out he just wanted to show off on the scooter.

Chihiro’s lifestyle

Chihiro writes to her mom about how she’s doing; going to school, working part time, and just getting used to living alone. She still feels a little lonely in the evening though, so she tends to leave the TV on. Chihiro’s gotten into the habit of watching baseball games and she wonders, while watching, what Yugami is up to.

Yuuji’s lifestyle

Yugami spends what extra living expenses he has on, you guessed it, tickets to Heiraku’s rakugo. His busy life has made him forget all about Chihiro… Oooooor not. He walks by a felting flyer and recalls how she was someone who loved wool felts and makes a lame pun about her last name (綿wata, the same kanji used in Watanuki 綿貫 is means “cotton”). Yugami then makes another lame pun when he’s at home by himself as he says Chihiro is like a tanuki because she’s Watanuki. The narration says Yugami still thinks of Chihiro in his own way – which I guess means fondly, but with absolutely terrible puns.

So Yugami is a dork who makes lame jokes about the girl he’s fond of when he’s by himself. OK. This is reinforced canon.

Back to Chihiro. A year into living alone, she’s finally picked up all the rules of baseball and now she’s become a huge fan of the sport. Rio would be so proud.

Coloured 4koma from the inside cover

Kuzumi and co.: Shigehara finally got accepted into a national university but it puts him faaar away from Kuzumi. Kuzumi is exasperated at the dolt. Kaori, meanwhile, is onto dating her third boyfriend.

Rio is trucking along with her dream of becoming a diplomat. Unfortunately, her immense popularity with dudes has led her to become extremely distrusting of them.

Unlike Chihiro who took her turtle Raphael with her, Yugami’s turtles are left at the Yugami household. Toyoko has practically held them “hostage” so that Yugami will visit home more frequently.

As for Yugami and Chihiro, the frequency of their meetups has increased. Chihiro gets all fired up watching the baseball game while Yugami is like “Huh, did you always like baseball this much?” THE ANSWER IS NO, NO SHE DID NOT. SHE ONLY GOT SO INTO IT IN THE LAST YEAR BECAUSE SHE’D ALWAYS THINK OF YOU WHILE WATCHING AFTER YOU WERE OUT OF HER LIFE FOR THAT STRETCH.

And the last omake is the moment before Yugami gives Chihiro the rakugo ticket in front of her apartment, except it’s from Yugami’s POV. He was smirking like a maniac waiting to give her that ticket. We all knew it was bullshit when Yugami said it was a coincidence but now it’s undeniable that he waited for her just to hand her that ticket. Tsundere much?

As much as I love Yugami, I think it’s best to just leave it be after the series ended on such a high note. I guess Sakura could prove me wrong since their writing is pretty great but I’m more than satisfied with the ending we got. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

I’d be lying though if I said a spinoff about Nidou and Nogami didn’t interest me. They both have such quirky personalities, imagine the utter madness that would ensue. It’d be a different kind of chaos from Yugami’s antics as well as a different dynamic from Yugami and Chihiro.