Let's play Starry★Sky

We open on the white screen of low budget, with Tsukiko’s narration commenting on how she’s coming out of a pleasant dream where she’s together with someone she loves. She comes slowly awake to the sound of birds outside and thinks to herself that the dream made her so happy she’s almost sorry to wake from it…

But then a soft, slightly bemused voice asks if she’s awake and she opens her eyes.

… to one of the best things you could possibly wake up to because that is hot. First time I played this game I couldn’t believe my eyes and it’s the only non-wedding ending that I’m a-okay with an alternative ending.

That hair, that sexy neckline, that comfortable af looking bedding, and the nice touch with the wedding ring. Unf. Also Ishida Akira because always Ishida Akira. Anyway.

Let’s calm down and keep going.

Tsukiko turns over in her sleep and gazes up at her beloved Kotarou as he calls her a sleepyhead and pets her head. She tells him she still sleepy, and he says yeah, he knows, they had a late night. (otome game code for they had sex) But they had plans today, remember? So time to get up. He doesn’t mind staying in bed, but she’s been looking forward to what’s planned for the day for a while, hasn’t she?

Tsukiko knows this, but she playfully pouts anyway. She’s still sleepy.

Oh, is she? Fine with him, he plays along. Does she want to ‘sleep’ some more then, together with him? He leans in and kisses her behind the white screen of low budget because they didn’t make an alternate CG of his kiss!face with the sexy nightshirt. (damn them)

Tsukiko knows where he’s going with this and promises she’ll get up. She’s getting up now.

“That’s too bad… I was just thinking I wouldn’t mind staying in bed all day with you today.”

She rolls her eyes at him and he laughs, yeah yeah, go get ready. It always takes her forever anyway, right? She counters that she likes to look good when they go out together and he calls her cute, pulling her in for one more kiss.

When they part, they gaze fondly at each other and Tsukiko asks if he remembers when they first moved in together. She’d just graduated university and together they decided to live together for awhile before getting married. She’d wanted to get married right away, but he had insisted they wait.

He gets a little defensive, saying he didn’t want to rush things with her.

She knows, she tells him, and buries her face in the pillow to hide her wide smile of joy out of embarrassment. She still remembers clearly when he sat her down and explained he didn’t want to get married right away because he cared about her so much. He knew he loved her, but she was still young and her feelings might change, and if they had to get a divorce or something it would just cause unnecessary strife. He could wait until they were certain. At the time she’d been happy he cared about her feelings so much, but was also a little sad to think he thought there was even the slightest chance she could ever stop loving him. He made her so happy, but always with that twinge of negativity hanging in the background.

She points this out to him and he laughs a little, remembering how she yelled at him over it at the time.

Tsukiko: It’s your fault for being such a downer.

Kotarou: Can’t help it, I’m an old man.

Pff, he’s like 30 at best here but then again, I know quite a few 30 year olds who bemoan that they’re old now, so I guess it’s all about perspective.

Tsukiko tells him he’s silly for always putting her happiness ahead of his to a fault. While she’s happy he cares for her, it still makes her sad to know he’s always ready to let her go. It feels like he doesn’t fully believe her.

He explains that’s just how he is, and it’s exactly why he suggested living together before they got married. And in the end, did her feelings change, even though they didn’t get married right away?

Tsukiko: Of course not! And I always want to be with y--

He stops her from saying the rest with a finger to her lips.

He playfully scolds her not to say another word and steal his thunder. That’s his line. He’ll tell her when he finds the right words, so can she wait just a bit longer?

Wait, does that mean…?

He takes advantage of her surprised silence to steal another kiss.

(Okay, I guess they aren’t married yet and the artist didn’t get the memo. OH WELL)

Wait, how much longer does she have to wait? She asks. He smiles sheepishly and says, not much longer. Just long enough, because he wants to make sure he does it right. Is that okay? She says it is, happy that he cares for her.

And that’s the important thing for these two, they’re happy together, without any of the usual trappings or formalities. Just waking up by each other’s side is enough. He tells her that every day he loves her a little more, to the point where it surprises him, and kisses her again, she’s already lost count this morning.

Tsukiko thinks to herself how glad she is to have met him, and how happy they are together.

The end.

Afterthoughts

Not sure what to say that hasn’t been said somewhere already. I like this route. It’s a good solid second favorite after Miyaji’s route, close enough that I’d almost say I like them equally. I like that Hoshizuki’s hit a lot of my fav cliches and never got too annoying or veered too far into wtfery that it prevented suspension of disbelief and reality set in that oh shit this is a teacher and student relationship that’s not cool.

Also kind of fun that we ended the let’s plays of these games on the guy who ends up running the school in the end. :D

But yeah, good route is good, gorgeous art is gorgeous, I never would have ever considered Ishida for a romantic lead role just because this is the first I’d ever encountered him in one and now I adore the idea of it.

In general, Starry Sky was a lot of fun and will always be my first deep dive into otome games. Sure it’s dated and ridiculously chaste and didn’t do enough with its chosen theme at times imho but no regrets. Fun game was fun. Fun drama CDs are also great. Someday I will find time for you, After Seasons games... someday......

All in all, thanks to everyone who read my snarky commentary and meta? fun-with-translations. If I ever do get around to playing the After Seasons games, I most likely won’t do this again because this past year or so it’s been a real struggle fitting it into my schedule. (x_x) Oh yeah, thanks again too for all your patience whenever I fell behind!

He gives a casual but sincere speech to the class that brings Haruki to tears. Many of Tsukiko’s classmates are sad to see the old git go as well, and since this isn’t his stupid route so am I, I guess.

Later in the afternoon after classes are done for the day, our usual quartet meet in the nurse’s office to say a more personal farewell. Hoshizuki tsundere’s it up and is like, yeah, glad we survived that experience, not that it has anything to do with me, but we all know that he’s happy to hear Mizushima is grateful for his time at Seigetsu Gakuen.

But now it’s time for him to go, and he politely declines Tsukiko’s office to walk him to the gate because that would be a bit too sentimental for his tastes. Hoshizuki tells him to take care of himself and he jokingly goes yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine, old man.

After he leaves, Haruki heads to the teacher’s office and that leaves just Hoshizuki and Tsukiko behind. Tsukiko realizes this is the first time they’ve been alone together since the morning after they admitted their feelings for each other and gets a little flustered. He fondly teases her about this, since she’s so easy to read. He tells her to relax a little and leans in for a surprise kiss…

Which is, of course, frickin’ adorable.

She gets even more flustered instead of relaxing because that was totally unfair. He just smiles and indicates for her to come sit on the sofa with him. She gives in because fine, whatever, if that’s how he’s going to be about it. When she does she remembers the letter and thinks this is as good a time as any to hand it to him.

“What’s this? Did you write me a love letter, Yahisa?”

Normally I’d want a cute switch to calling each other by their given names but we already had that in my other favorite route with Miyaji so I’m okay with this.

Anyway, it’s like 2009 in these games not 1909 you silly old man, no, it’s not a love letter from Tsukiko.

Tsukiko tells him no, she got it from Mizushima who wanted her to give it to him. It’s a letter from Yui.

Hoshizuki freezes for a moment. It’s what?

When he doesn’t even move to take it, she gently coaxes him into it. When he finally does, she puts her arms around him supportively, telling him it’s okay, she’ll be here for him while he reads it.

“Yeah, you’re right. I have you here with me.”

Comforted by this, he opens the letter and begins to read…

In the letter, Yui apologizes for putting him in an awkward position. She never wanted him to reciprocate her feelings, she only wanted him to know them. She was scared and knew she was dying, and he’d always been there to hold her hand and ground her, and promise that he’ll study hard to find a cure. This always made her feel better. He was so confident she could almost believe him, too, but the reality was different and her condition just kept getting worse. She couldn’t bear to have any regrets before she died, so she made the decision to tell him how she felt. Even if he didn’t love her back, she was just happy with the knowledge that during her short life she had been fortunate to meet and fall in love with someone as wonderful as him. Even though she knew that he was a serious, caring person and that it would hurt him to know he didn’t, or couldn’t love her in return, but she had to say something. And now that she’s said it, she just has one wish for him going forward…

She wishes for him to be happy, because he deserves it. He’s full of warmth and kindness, and when he finds someone he wants to share that with, he should never let her go.

Oh and please take care of Iku.

She ends the letter by telling him again that she loves him, this time as a brother, and hopes that he’ll be happy in the future. Thanks for everything.

And we’re all crying.

Yay, closure.

Tsukiko holds him close and lets him cry it out. If he’s worried about his pride, she promises to forgot she saw a single tear. Quietly, she promises that they’ll be happy together. He smiles through his tears and says that of course they will.

After his kind words and support the other day, she wants to at least tell him about what happened. She’s already told Hoshizuki and he’s agreed to let her tell him.

Finding Mizushima nowhere in the school, she has an idea and heads up to the rooftop gardens. Sure enough, there he is, looking up at the twilight sky by himself. She calls his name and he turns to greet her, upon which she notices an envelope in his hand. Does he have a moment, she asks, and he smiles and tells her to go ahead.

She tells him she was able to convey her feelings to Hoshizuki, and he curiously confirms that they were able to talk. When she didn’t turn up for class yesterday he worried that Kota-nii never came back and she fainted. Tsukiko conveniently leaves out the part that she actually did faint, and just tells him that they were able to talk, and… that Hoshizuki told her he loves her.

Mizushima is so surprised he uncharacteristically raises his voice. Really?!

Really.

When he gets over the initial surprise, he smiles warmly at her and tears up. He’s so glad to hear that… Really, so glad… He holds up the envelope and says that now he can finally give this to Kota-nii. Actually… he hands it to Tsukiko, he wants her to give it to him. Will she do that for him?

What’s inside?

It’s a letter...from Yui. He’s been holding on to it all these years, unable to find the right time to pass it on to its rightful owner. In it Yui wrote to Kota-nii about how she felt, and Mizushima feels a bit guilty, because he thinks it’s important to helping Kota-nii move on. But at the same time, something told him to save it for when he was able to do so on his own. To be honest, he’s still kind of afraid to do it, which is why he’s asking her to do it for him.

Tsukiko: That makes no sense, also, rude.

Mizushima: lol sorry, but seriously can you do it for me?

She agrees because that’s just the nice person she is.

Mizushima: Great, and can you also wait until my last day here to hand it to him?

You’re such a coward, Mizushima. She asks why and he explains that he’s embarrassed and also he wants to escape in case things get awkward with Kota-nii after he reads it. (translation is snarky but accurate)

Finally, he smiles at her again and tells her how happy he is for her. He asks her to please take care of Kota-nii.

Hoshizuki is there (still?) and he feels her forehead to check on her fever. It’s still pretty high, so he tells her it’s best she doesn’t go to class today. He promises to come check in on her during the lunch break and after school. She giggles and he asks what’s so funny.

She’s just happy he stayed with her until morning.

“Well, I wanted to stay with you.”

That’s at once sweet and romantic and also holy shit Starry Sky despite the relationship upgrade they are still teacher and student… actually school chairman and student! There’s a lot of innuendo packed in how the previous day ended too.

Oh well, the actual text is still pretty innocent and chaste so we’ll just let that slide. Or leave problematic elements by the wayside and let your imagination run wild, your choice. No one ever asked for realism in an otome game and I ship it. Whatevs.

She hopes he doesn’t catch her cold (heh) and he tells her not to worry, he’s fine.

Before he goes, she wants a good-bye kiss. He teases her for being needy even as he complies.

*screencaps the pretty*

As a last resort, she decides to wait for him by the school gates.

She just can’t bear the thought of him going. She has to make him see that her feelings for him are real.

Tsukiko hears footsteps and looks up to find Hoshizuki approaching the gate, looking unfamiliar in a three-piece suit. He scolds her for standing out here in the late November weather by way of a greeting. She’s going to catch cold again.

She takes his lead and skirts around her reason for being there, commenting on how he’s dressed up nicely.

“I look good, don’t I?”

Facepalm.

Mizushima’s right, you are an idiot.

Tsukiko sees through his paltry attempt to distance himself from her and turns up her nose. He doesn’t look good at all. It doesn’t suit him.

Hoshizuki: Harsh.

Tsukiko points out that dressing up in a stuffy old suit to go to a matchmaking meeting for a wedding he doesn’t even really want is pretty lame, too.

He sighs and tells her to let it go. The small, troubled smile this comes with hits her with a pang in her heart. She can’t avoid saying it any longer. She tells him she loves him, that she doesn’t want him to go…

The smile leaves off his face, and he starts to say something, his voice low and gravelly, but he trails off and looks away.

“Don’t come to the nurse’s office anymore, Yahisa. You have to forget about me.”

He tells her to stay away from him, and before she can barely get out his name, a car stops next to them and the driver interrupts, greeting Hoshizuki and opening the door for him. Hoshizuki thanks him and starts to get in.

Driver: And what of the young lady, sir?

Hoshizuki: Never mind her, let’s go.

Wow, Hoshizuki. Wow.

Without him giving Tsukiko so much as a glance, the car heads off and takes Hoshizuki far from where Tsukiko can reach him. She stands at the gate and watches it go until it’s long since out of sight and clouds have moved in. It takes her a moment to realize it when the rain starts to fall.

Still she stands there, rooted in the spot by the despair that she couldn’t get through to him in the end. What can she do now? The rain on her face makes her think it might be safe to cry now, but she’s not ready to give in to that just yet.

Suddenly the rain seems to lift and she looks up in surprise to find Mizushima holding an umbrella over her. He holds it out to her. She’ll catch cold if she stays there in the rain until Kota-nii comes back… That is what she’s planning, right?

That’s right, as soon as he says it she realizes that’s what she has to do. She can’t cry and give up just yet. She thanks him for the umbrella, and hopes her voice doesn’t waver as much as she thinks it might.

He smiles and teasingly asks if she won’t consider forgetting about Kota-nii and choosing him instead. He would never make her wait in the rain, and seeing her devotion to his older brother-figure has made him think that true love might be something real after all. Tsukiko resolutely declares that no matter what, Hoshizuki is the one she’s fallen for. Mizushima smiles at her; he knows. He’s also pretty sure that the ‘Tsukiko-chan’ he likes best is the one who loves Kota-nii. His voice drops to an urgent whisper, asking her to please, don’t give up on him.

Mizushima leaves Tsukiko there to wait.

And she waits…

All she has for company is the unending sound of the rain around her. She loses track of time, not sure how long she’s been waiting. The temperature drops and soon she can’t stop shivering.

When will the rain stop, she wonders.

When… will he come back…?

As if on cue, Tsukiko hears a car approaching and looks up. She’s so relieved to see his return that she crumples to the ground. The last thing she hears before she blacks out is Hoshizuki calling her name…

When she comes to, the first thing she notices is her hand is oddly warm, and that it’s a gentle, comforting warmth. When she opens her eyes, it’s to the familiar sight of her dorm room and Hoshizuki looking down at her, concerned.

“Just pretend you can’t see both my hands in this image.”*

(*Yeah, it’s been awhile since I messed around with the translations, what of it? I love this route so much I forgot to snark on it! :D)

When he sees her awake he launches immediately into lecturing her. What the hell was she doing out there?! Can she not do things like that and make him have to worry about her?!

All Tsukiko can do is weakly tell him she’s happy he came back.

He avoids her gaze, but when she starts to sit up he urges her to stay in bed. He’s not done lecturing her. He frowns and tells her that she had a really high fever, again demanding why she has to do things like that. Almost as if he doesn’t know what else to say… What was she going to do if he didn’t come back?

Tsukiko tells him she wanted to believe he would come back, that he wasn’t the type to stay with someone he didn’t love. He bitterly says she doesn’t know that. But she does, she smiles at him, because she loves him. She knows all his flaws, all his little quirks by heart. She knows how hard he works and how hard he also tries to hide that from everyone around him… because she knows he hates to make others worry about him, hates to think that someone might be concerned about him… because he doesn’t value himself…

He’s at a loss for words, looking to be on the verge of tears as he gazes down at her. Finally, sounding strained, he begs her one last time to stay away from him. It’s too painful.

God damn do I love Ishida Akira’s acting here.

I really, really do. He’s amazing.

Okay, no more squee, it distracts from the story…

Tsukiko: Hoshizuki-sensei… I don’t want to do that. I want to be there for you.

Hoshizuki: I’m too negative and weak… I could never make someone happy. I couldn’t possibly accept your feelings for me…

She tells him that’s not true. Uncharacteristically he raises his voice, because it is true! She doesn’t know anything about him! She was important to him! He wanted to protect her more than anything, but… but even so…

He hurt her. He was too weak to answer her feelings, and even though he wanted to protect her, he ended up being the one to hurt her… He never imagined that she would fall in love with him… to him she was only ever family, like a sister… And ever since then he just can’t figure out what he did to give her the wrong idea… what he could have done differently to protect her from making that mistake…

It wasn’t anything he did or didn’t do, Tsukiko explains softly, it wasn’t his fault.

Even if it wasn’t any conscious act on his part… does that absolve him of the sin of breaking Yui’s heart?

Hoshizuki: Somehow I made her think she had a chance, how could I turn around and tell her I didn’t see her that way? She was sick, it would have been too cruel.

He couldn’t do it, and that’s why he stayed away… hoping she would get over it; that time would make her forget her feelings for him. It was the only way he could think to keep their relationship the way it had already been.

But now, thinking about how much courage it must have taken to confess to him…

And he hasn’t changed either, he adds sadly. He tried to do the exact same thing to Tsukiko…

“I’m not nearly as kind… nor as strong as you think I am, Yahisa.”

Does she really want to be by the side of someone like that?

He turns away from her then, and Tsukiko reaches for him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

Excuse me, I may need a moment.

He breathes her name but Tsukiko can’t say anything, too overcome with emotion at how vulnerable and lonely he’d seemed asking her that. She wishes so dearly that there was some way she could make him not feel that way so much, even just a little bit. Finally she tells him that she does, she does want to be by the side of someone like that. If he feels like he could never make someone happy, she’ll make the both of them happy. If he can’t accept her feelings she’ll prove to him that she can accept his. So won’t he please, accept her love?

Tears begin to roll down his face. He missed his chance to work things out with Yui because he foolishly believed that there would always be tomorrow… until there wasn’t. He’ll always live with the guilt of putting her through that.

“Can someone like me… really be allowed to love someone?”

Tsukiko looks him in the eyes and solemnly nods. If all the world told him no, she would still tell him yes.

But he’s so afraid of hurting her, he whispers. Tsukiko wisely tells him that no relationship is perfect. Even if he does hurt her, she’s confident she can forgive him. Plus, what would hurt her most would be if he left her, if he ran away from her like he’d been doing these past few days…

He smiles fondly at her, commenting on how strong she is.

Tsukiko tells him she’s weaker without him around.

Hoshizuki laughs a little. In that case, she wins. He knows now he can’t run away from her, or from how he feels. He takes her hand in his and looks her in the eyes.

Hoshizuki: I love you, Yahisa… You mean so much to me. I don’t ever want to hurt you. I want to be with you… is that okay… with you?

Yes, of course, she tells him, finally the words come out as a confirmation rather than a desperate plea. She wants to be with him.

Now they’re both crying. He tries to tell her not to, reaching out to wipe the tears from her cheeks, but she can’t. She’s just too happy. She wraps her arms around him and he comments on how she feels warm, like maybe her fever has gone up again. She tells him it’s his fault so he better take responsibility and take care of her. Of course, he says, he’ll stay right by her side until her fever goes away.

This is fun wordplay because the word for fever can also be used colloquially to mean “passion” or even by association, affection. He’s basically promising to be with her for as long as she loves him.

Tsukiko’s so touched by the warm look in his eyes that she tells him she wants him to kiss her. He laughs a little; that’s very forward of her. She points out that he doesn’t take the lead enough so she has to be.

“My bad, you’re right. I’ll try to be more forward from now on, so much that you’ll start to be embarrassed by me.”

She doesn’t doubt it either, from the look in his eye.

Tsukiko: Maybe you don’t have to go that far…

He laughs and pulls her close, whispering that he loves her as he moves in for a kiss.

That hand holding his hair back is just… unf. My compliments to the artist. What are they doing now? Are they doing any other otome games? I should track them down.

Add in some other relevant squee over how absolutely delightful Ishida Akira is and back to the story…

When he pulls away, he’s crying again.

“S-Sorry… Why am I…?”

Tsukiko gazes up at him lovingly and thinks she understands. The tears mean he’s finally ready to move on from the past. When he says he hates to let her see him like this, she gently tells him she loves even his ‘uncool’ side. She wipes away his tears like he did only a moment ago for her and asks for another kiss. He complies and when he pulls away, he gives her a teasing grin and comments on how it’s too bad he couldn’t steal her first kiss.

Y’know, because this genre often has weird purity hangups.

Oh, but wait...

Tsukiko looks away and awkwardly apologizes.

He does the same and asks what for?

Tsukiko admits that there’s something she lied to him about before; something she’s been hiding from him.

Is she going to tell him the truth now?

Tsukiko: My first kiss… was with you.

Hoshizuki: … huh?

Tsukiko: Remember when I got sick during the school trip and you fell asleep taking care of me?

“Yeah…?”

Lookit that guilty face. He remembers.

Tsukiko admits that she woke up once while he was sleeping and… she kissed him. She quickly apologizes and hopes he doesn’t hate her for it. For a moment, Hoshizuki can just stare at her in surprise. Finally a smile spreads over his face. In that case, he tells her, there’s something he has to confess too.

“I kissed you back then too.”

Tsukiko simultaneously turns bright red and smiles with surprised joy. He did? Really? When?! He teases her for this reaction, but answers that he kissed her not long after she fell asleep so… it would seem he kissed her first. She wants to know why and he says it was entirely on impulse. It was what made him realize he had fallen for her. He’s still kind of sorry for stealing her first kiss. Tsukiko for her part just wishes he’d told her he loved her sooner. He can steal as many kisses as he wants.

She’s scared of what might happen and practically has to drag her feet there, but she makes herself knock on the door. But there’s no answer, and the door is locked when she tries to open it.

She walks around the school, even going up to peek at the chairman’s office, but doesn’t see him anywhere. She wants to talk to him at least once more before he goes to the matchmaking meeting, but she only has one more day left after today.

We cut to Hoshizuki’s point of view, contemplative against the setting sun. He knows Tsukiko’s been looking for him, and watches her cross the grounds below from the chairman’s office window. (from the fifth floor? I suppose it’s not impossible, but… okay game, if you say so…) He doesn’t understand why she won’t give up.

He’s reminded of how Yui and Iku used to never be able to find him when they played hide and seek when they were kids. He’d always give in and accidentally-on purpose make a sound to give away his hiding place when they started to tear up in frustration. He’d always loved watching their faces light up when they found him. Hoshizuki had always had a rather negative view of himself, but he liked that he could make them smile. He wanted to protect them.

If he went out now and let Yahisa find him, would she smile at him like they used to, he wonders. Would she show him a reminder of the smile he couldn’t protect before with Yui? Even Iku doesn’t smile like he used to anymore.

Even so, he thinks to himself, he really does like seeing Tsukiko smile.

Nervous, and wondering if he’s even there at all, she takes a deep breath to calm herself before knocking on the door.

There’s no answer.

She peeks inside but the room is empty. That’s not good. She doesn’t have much time before he goes to his matchmaking meeting. She decides to wait for him, but the longer she sits there the more she starts to get the feeling he’s not coming.

Still, she waits…

And before she knows it, she’s fallen asleep…

...only to be woken up much later by Hoshizuki gently calling her name.

Tsukiko comes awake with a start. The sky outside the window is dark, and Hoshizuki is telling her to gather her things so he can lock the office. What is she even doing here, he asks.

“The only people allowed to sleep in here are sick people and me, so come on, out, so I can lock the door.”

Ha.

You say that now but I’ve heard the drama CDs >:D

Tsukiko is hit with the feeling that if she lets him lock the office she’ll miss her chance and cries for him to wait. But the words come out wrong; all she can do at first is plead for him to not go to the matchmaking meeting. She doesn’t want him to go.

At first he’s surprised and begins to ask how she knows about that, but he’s not even finished the question before he accurately guesses that Haruki and Mizushima told her even though he told them not to. He sighs. It has nothing to do with her, now hurry up.

But it does have something to do with her, she tells him.

Oh yeah? He gives her his best skeptical look. How so?

Tsukiko summons up all the courage she has to put into words what she realizes she’d always wanted to say to him.

Tsukiko: Because… I love you, Hoshizuki-sensei. So… that’s why it has something to do with me. I don’t want you to go to the matchmaking meeting.

Hoshizuki slowly turns from the door to face her. Patiently, matter-of-factly, and in his most teacher-ly voice, he explains that she’s a teenaged girl who doesn’t know any better and that this is just a phase. She starts to say he’s wrong but he insists that he’s not. Kids her age think adults look more attractive than they actually are, it’s just a fact. But eventually she’ll get over that.

Tsukiko: I’m telling you you’re wrong!

Hoshizuki: I’m telling you I’m not. You’re just lovesick, Yahisa, that’s all. Don’t worry, you’ll get over it soon.

He tries his best to promise her that the pain doesn’t last forever and once she’s over it, she’ll easily fall for someone else. That’s just how it is.

Harsh, and Tsukiko’s rightfully insulted. She fires back that it’s not a ‘phase’ and demands to know why he won’t even try to listen to what she has to say.

Hoshizuki just apologizes in response, he’s sorry, this is his fault. He should have realized she was lying at the school festival and distanced himself from her earlier. That way they could have avoided putting her through this heartbreak.

Tsukiko points out that he’s just running away again.

Hoshizuki: What do you mean by that?

Tsukiko: Mizushima-sensei told me about his sister.

For a brief moment, the colour leaves his face, but he quickly regains composure. He doesn’t know what Iku’s been telling her, but what happened back then is completely different from now. Is it though? He can’t get out of this conversation fast enough, can he? He’s avoiding Tsukiko just the same as he did with Yui.

“I’m not lovesick… I’m in love with you.”

The words tumble out of her in a desperate plea to make him to understand. She wants to be by his side. She wants to be there for him, and nothing he can say or do will make her feel any different.

When she’s said all this, Hoshizuki says fine, he understands how she feels. Now he’ll tell her how he feels; he can never return her feelings. She’s too young.

That’s not good enough. Tsukiko tells him she won’t give up.

That’s fine and all, he snarks, but he’d rather she didn’t force her selfishness on him like that.

Dude, didn’t you tell her to be more selfish just like, a week ago?

Before Tsukiko can come up with a response, he turns and leaves, not even bothering to lock the office anymore. Once he’s gone, the room feels markedly colder. His words stung more than Tsukiko expected, but she forces herself not to cry. She won’t cry. Not until they’re tears of happiness when he finally accepts her feelings.

Out in the hall, Hoshizuki is feeling the emotional damage of what just went down. It’s taking all his willpower to not immediately turn around and return to the nurse’s office. He hates that he had to hurt Tsukiko like that, but confident in the idea that it’s just a crush she has on him, he feels this is best. Getting the pain over with now means it won’t cut so deep and she’ll move on easier in the end.

He can’t go back to her now.

Suddenly Mizushima turns up, clearly aware of what’s happened. He asks if Hoshizuki is really okay with what he’s doing. He won’t have any regrets? Hoshizuki gets over his surprise even quicker than he did with Tsukiko and insists that no, he won’t have any regrets, don’t be silly. Anyway, he’s busy, so he’s leaving now.

Mizushima’s voice is pained as he tells him to wait. He grabs Hoshizuki by the arm, and in his mind Hoshizuki is surprised to feel how much stronger he’s become since he was younger.

Mizushima yells at him, asking how long he’s going to dwell on the past? He should just get over it already! It wasn’t his fault! Yui was satisfied just letting him know how she felt, that’s all! Not being able to give her an answer doesn’t make Kota-nii a bad person!

Seeing Iku show this much emotion also stuns Hoshizuki into silence.

Mizushima’s voice drops and he’s near tears as he begs Kota-nii to be happy, please. Tsukiko’s good for him, he knows this, she’s stronger than Kota-nii thinks.

“You deserve to be happy, Kota-nii…”

Hoshizuki patiently tells him that he’s perfectly happy the way he is now. He has his work.

Mizushima calls him on this lie immediately. He knows the truth. He has yet to see him smile the way he used to when they were younger. He and Yui loved seeing Kota-nii smile. Now Mizushima can see that Kota-nii is even more of an idiot than he thought he was. Yui would hate to see him like this. He turns and leaves without a backwards glance at Hoshizuki.

Despite the fact that she decided to tell Hoshizuki how she feels, these past few days there hadn’t been a single moment where they were alone together. She’s started to get the feeling he’s avoiding her, and her resolve begins to weaken.

But even so, she reminds herself, she decided she wants to be there for him. This isn’t the time to lose confidence.

As she’s walking down the hall, Mizushima approaches her. He says he has something to tell her about Kota-nii. Will he meet her after school at the rooftop gardens?

Tsukiko’s not sure what this could be about, but she agrees. As he walks away, it occurs to Tsukiko that, come to think of it, she’s still not entirely sure what Hoshizuki and Mizushima’s relationship is. Since they call each other “Iku” and “Kota-nii”, it’s definitely a long-standing relationship, and Mizushima seems to worry about Hoshizuki from time to time… Could that be what he wants to talk about? She’ll just have to wait until after class to find out.

That doesn’t stop her from being distracted by it all afternoon.

After class, she heads up to the gardens and finds Mizushima waiting for her there. She apologizes for making him wait.

“No, don’t worry about it. Um, I’ll just get straight to the point… Tsukiko-chan, are you planning on confessing your feelings to Kota-nii?”

She wasn’t expecting that at all, but quickly gets over her surprise to answer that yes, she was.

Oh, he says with a small smile, in that case he’ll tell her this… Kota-nii is going to have his matchmaking meeting on the 23rd, next Monday. He asked Koharu, thinking it would be best if Tsukiko knew if she planned to confess.

Tsukiko: Oh. Thank you…

Mizushima: You’re welcome. There’s something else you should know…

Mizushima begins to explain to Tsukiko about how he and Hoshizuki grew up in the same neighbourhood, and their parents were friends. He tells her also that he had a twin sister named Yui, but she’s passed away now.

Tsukiko seems to recall Hoshizuki mentioning something about twins at some point, and now it clicks that he meant Mizushima and his sister.

Mizushima goes on, telling her that when they were younger, Kota-nii would often look after the Mizushima twins. He clearly thought it was a huge pain, but took good care of them anyway… which to Tsukiko seems very much like Hoshizuki.

Then Mizushima’s voice drops almost to a whisper, as he adds that his sister fell in love with Kota-nii. Yui had been born with a weak heart, and often spent time in the hospital. During those hospital stays, Mizushima and Hoshizuki would go to see her. He’s not sure if Tsukiko knows, but once upon a time Hoshizuki was studying to be a doctor. It was because he wanted to find a cure for Yui’s condition...

...but in the end, he quit his studies without finishing.

Tsukiko didn’t know about Yui, but she was aware that Hoshizuki had been studying to be a doctor in the past. Mizushima seems a bit touched to find that Kota-nii told Tsukiko even that much.

Tsukiko hesitantly asks if this means Hoshizuki reciprocated Yui’s feelings for him.

No, Hoshizuki only ever saw her as being like a younger sister, like family. He didn’t have any romantic feelings for her.

How can he be sure?

He just knows, and Yui could see the truth too. But when she knew she didn’t have much time left to live, she confessed to Hoshizuki anyway. He didn’t have to return her feelings, she just wanted him to know.

Tsukiko knows this feeling very well.

But, Mizushima goes on sadly, breaking her train of thought, Kota-nii couldn’t handle Yui’s confession and began avoiding her. Mizushima understands that it was out of fear of hurting her, and fear of their relationship until that point falling apart… In addition, that had been how he found out her condition was terminal; she had been doing her best to hide it from him until that point.

It was during this awkward period when Yui’s illness suddenly grew worse and she passed away. By the time Kota-nii got word and rushed to the hospital, it was already too late.

Hoshizuki has been living with the regret ever since then.

He couldn’t forgive himself for what he did to Yui, which is why he had come to avoid making close personal connections and declared himself undeserving of love. Mizushima hates to see him do this, though, because it’s not what Yui would have wanted. She only wanted him to know how she felt, not be bound by it for evermore. At first, when he was younger, Mizushima was also upset and blamed Kota-nii, but now that he’s older he understands both their points of view more, and more than that, wants Kota-nii to be happy.

Tsukiko thanks him for telling her, but wonders why Mizushima told her this story.

It’s because he can see Hoshizuki is different when he’s with her. And… he’s pretty sure that Hoshizuki has fallen in love with Tsukiko.

Tsukiko raises her voice in surprise.

Mizushima smiles wryly, accurately guessing that it came as a surprise to Hoshizuki too.

But, if it is true, then why the matchmaking?

That’s exactly why, Mizushima explains. It’s because he fell for Tsukiko that Hoshizuki is trying to distance himself from the truth as much as possible. He might think it’s the best choice for Tsukiko’s future, or he doesn’t want to hurt her, or he doesn’t think he deserves her… he’s that kind of idiot; the idiot who only thinks of himself and does whatever he decides without consulting with the other person.

Mizushima shakes his head. He never believed in love, thinking it was a silly fairytale, a game… but seeing Kota-nii and Tsukiko together… it made him want to believe it just a little bit. Without even realizing it themselves, they had shown him that it was possible for two people to love and support each other with no ulterior motives.

This may seem like a lofty request but… can she show him that true love exists?

Tsukiko wonders aloud if she even could.

It has to be her, he tells her. She’s the one who fell in love with Hoshizuki after all, it has to be her, or Yui’s feelings will also have been for nothing. He looks so serious, more serious than she’s ever seen him look before, that Tsukiko makes up her mind.

She’ll tell Hoshizuki how she feels. Most likely, he’ll try to avoid her, but she’ll be persistent until he has to accept how she feels.

Mizushima smiles, and comments that she sounds so strong that he’s sure she’ll do it. He asks her to please take care of Kota-nii. If anything, he feels better now that he’s told her the truth, and he hopes that Kota-nii gives in and returns her feelings. For all his faults, Kota-nii is a very, very kind person, who always treated him well, and Mizushima only wants the best for him.

Later on, back in her room, Tsukiko goes over all that Mizushima told her once more in her mind, and wonders… how did Hoshizuki really feel about Yui, in the end? Did he love her back, deep down?

“Or, probably, he thought of her as a precious member of his family.”

“Perhaps he did love her back.”

“Maybe it was neither.”

Really, writers? You want Tsukiko to decide how Hoshizuki felt about Yui? That’s silly. Anyway, we want the first answer for added over the top romance. This isn’t a soap opera we’re writing here.

Well.

It kinda is.

Coming to the conclusion that Hoshizuki only saw Yui as a sister, Tsukiko looks up to the stars and ponders how sad it was that the two of them both loved each other but in ways that were not quite compatible. For that to have hurt Hoshizuki to the point where he didn’t want to love again and dwelled on it, only made it more sad.

(It’s not hard to imagine that Hoshizuki probably felt the same way)

In the end she doesn’t go to the school over the weekend, but when Monday rolls around, she resolves her courage and heads for the nurse’s office after class. Will he even be there? She’s nervous.

When she gets to the door, she hears Koharu’s voice coming from inside.

Koharu: Really?!

Hoshizuki: Yeah, please do it.

Koharu asks what changed his mind after resisting for so long, and Hoshizuki responds that nothing happened, he just realized he’s old enough that he should start thinking about settling down.

Not hard to guess what they’re talking about.

Koharu proves herself to be a perceptive older sister and asks again if something happened, because he seems a bit unhappy about it. He insists that nothing happened in that petulant way that tells you something did happen, and Koharu gives up. Whatever he says, she just wants him to be happy. In any case, she’ll get right to ‘it’.

Tsukiko starts to feel bad about eavesdropping and raises her hand to knock.

This just so happens to be the exact time that Koharu opens the door to leave. She greets Tsukiko warmly and apologizes that she can’t stay to chat. She suggests they go for tea sometime, and Tsukiko agrees that sounds like a good idea. Koharu is super pleased that she has a future date with her adorable new friend and waves good-bye to Hoshizuki.

Koharu: I’ll send you the information soon, so don’t forget to look at it. If you forget, I’ll be really mad.

Hoshizuki: Yeah, yeah…

Tsukiko has an acute case of shoujo protagonist at the moment and doesn’t clue in to what they’re talking about yet. It preoccupies her so much that before she knows it, Koharu’s left an she’s followed Hoshizuki into the office.

In an ever so slightly cool tone, Hoshizuki asks what she wants.

Tsukiko freezes. She doesn’t know what to say. She can’t tell him she just wanted to see him. We can also assume that he’s never actually asked that before, at least not without the playfully exasperated tone he usually took with her until now. Finally she asks if there’s anything she can help out with.

No, he says after a short pause, he’s fine on his own today. Sorry she came all this way for nothing.

Oh, she sighs inwardly, of all the days for him to not be busy. Tsukiko is still curious about the conversation she overhead between him and Koharu. Is it safe to ask…? She gives it a try. What were they talking about?

“Nothing really, just chatting.”

This is super minor but it’s one of the things I like about Hoshizuki’s character. Many, if not most of the other characters in this situation would have gotten defensive and told her it was “nothing!” or “none of her business”, inadvertently hurting her feelings. But he doesn’t, and to not fall into that cliche at this point is one of the better decisions the writers made in this route.

Anyway, he says, he has work to do in the chairman’s office. He’s asked another class health rep to look after the nurse’s office while he’s out, so she can go home.

Another health rep?

But he literally always asked her to come before. What changed…?

He leaves ahead of her with a small smile and a “see you later” but something seems… off. Like he’s pushing himself too hard again.

Left alone in the nurse’s office, Tsukiko’s not sure what to do with herself. Before she can decide, the door suddenly opens again. Haruki and Mizushima look surprised to see her. She’s there by herself? Where’s Hoshizuki? Tsukiko tells them he just left to work in the chairman’s office and Haruki sighs, he wanted to ask him a question. Oh well.

Curious, Tsukiko asks what he wanted to ask.

Haruki: I heard he was going to start doing some matchma--

Mizushima grabs him and hisses, “Haruki-sensei!”

But it’s too late, Tsukiko heard enough to guess the rest and connect it with the conversation she overheard earlier.

“*Sigh* I can tell by the look on your face that he hasn’t told you, just like I thought…”

Tsukiko asks what he means by that.

The two teachers glance at each other, then Mizushima starts to explain. They met Koharu in the hall earlier and heard about it from her. At the same time, Koharu asked them if they knew what had happened to change Hoshizuki’s mind. Since Haruki and Mizushima were just as surprised as Koharu and had no ideas, they’d come straight to the nurse’s office to ask for an explanation.

Haruki: I mean, he just up and suddenly decided doing matchmaking stuff was okay!

Tsukiko: So he… is suddenly trying to get married?

Mizushima: Seems that way, but I don’t know what he’s thinking. I thought he was finally moving on…

Haruki: Me too. I mean, I thought your relationship with him was going well, Yahisa.

Wait, what?

Mizushima calls him out for having no delicacy. That’s why he’s so short. Haruki gets defensive, first of all, the two are unrelated, second of all, it’s the truth, isn’t it?

Ha ha ha, I knew these two were secretly shipping Tsukiko and Hoshizuki.

Haruki grows serious and with a concerned look on his face, turns to Tsukiko to explain. To begin with, Hoshizuki just seems so much happier now. When he first came to the school, he almost never smiled and seemed miserable, Haruki tried his best to cheer him up, and he did, a little, but there was only so much he could do. But then, after spending more time with Tsukiko, he noticed that Hoshizuki had begun to smile without it seeming forced; he seemed to relax a little. That’s why he just assumed they were in a relationship, and though he knew it was kind of wrong, he supported them…

Mizushima agrees with Haruki. He’d also seen the way Hoshizuki was different, better, around Tsukiko. He hadn’t been able to read quite how she felt, but he’d secretly hoped the two of them got together.

Tsukiko is so moved by their words, she decides to tell them the truth. She’s fallen in love with Hoshizuki, but he’s already explicitly told her not to.

Mizushima frowns sadly at this, but Haruki for some reason smiles. He explains that this means it’s at least on Hoshizuki’s mind, so they should wait until he wants to talk about it after all, rather than demanding an answer. Mizushima agrees that giving him space might be the best choice, although he’s dying to ask.

This is actually the sensible thing to do.

But what’s a Starry Sky route without a little bit of eyeroll-y wtfery, amirite?

So Tsukiko can’t bear to leave the question hanging and declares that she’s going to go ask Hoshizuki directly if they won’t. They call after her to warn her that this is probably a Bad Idea, but in an effort to make up for the stark lack of drama™ this route has had so far, Tsukiko flings open the door and starts running.

They also missed a prime opportunity to add in Haruki calling after her about no running in the halls but maybe that’s just my weird writing style and they thought it wasn’t the time for it.

Tsukiko’s mind is going even faster than she can run. At first she just was happy to be near him, but then she began to want to know more about Hoshizuki, she wanted to be there for him, to be at his side… She wanted to see him smile. She wanted to hold his hand so he wouldn’t have such sad dreams anymore. She wanted to be there to tell him it would be okay when he was feeling down. It had all happened so fast and grown so quickly, that before she knew it, all these feelings had turned to falling in love with him.

As an aside, this is one of the great moments when the Starry Sky writing team really know their audience. Stories like these are written for the optimistic, the people who are “in love with love” or who want to detach from reality and live that fantasy vicariously. That run down of how Tsukiko fell in love with Hoshizuki is how a lot of people, not everyone naturally, but a lot of people who enjoy the romance drama imagine falling in love should play out, and the writers captured that perfectly.

I’m still calling it wtfery though, because…

Tsukiko reaches the chairman’s office and actually has the presence of mind to knock, which only adds to the silliness. Hoshizuki calls that it’s unlocked and she lets herself in.

“Yahisa… What brings you all the way up here?”

At first she can only say his name, and he gets over his surprise to calmly, and in his usual tone of voice ask again what brought her here. Tsukiko fumbles with the words a bit. Now that she’s here in front of him she can’t think of what to say. She tells herself that if she gives up now, she’ll only regret it later.

Tsukiko: Can I ask you a question, Hoshizuki-sensei?

Hoshizuki: What is it?

Tsukiko: Is it true… that you’re going to start doing matchmaking?

He shifts position and his tone grows a little more distant. Of all things, that’s what she came to ask him? It’s true.

But why, all of a sudden?

He gives her pretty much the same excuses he gave Koharu; he felt it’s time to settle down and he wasn’t getting any younger… but with Tsukiko he also adds that the idea of looking for someone to marry out of love just seemed exhausting.

Tsukiko’s heart breaks. She’d still been hoping that he would say it wasn’t true… that it was just a rumour…

Tsukiko: Is that… really what you want?

Hoshizuki: What are you trying to say?

Tsukiko doesn’t miss the conflicted look that crosses his face for just a moment. She points out that even now, telling her it’s true, his heart doesn’t seem to be in it. He looks like he’s forcing himself to do it.

Hoshizuki gets a little irate at this. He chides her, saying she doesn’t know him as well as she thinks she does.

Some of Tsukiko’s fiery side comes out here. She counters that at the very least, she knows him better than he thinks she does. She knows he makes every effort to seem lazy when in fact he’s very hardworking. He tries his utmost to work where people can’t see, because he thinks that will prevent them from worrying about him… like that time he collapsed by himself when no one knew he’d been working late.

Hoshizuki scoffs and says she’s got it all wrong.

Tsukiko’s firm in her belief that she’s not wrong. To only further prove her point, she also brings up how he tries to hide how nice he really is. He goes on and on about how terrible her tea is… but he’s the only one who ever drinks the whole cup.

Hoshizuki: It’s terrible, but I never said I hated it.

(this is actually true)

Undaunted, Tsukiko adds that they’ve spent so much time together, she’s gotten pretty good at reading his expressions, even when he tries to hide how he’s feeling or thinking. Before she can bring up an example, he grows more irritable still and tells her outright that it’s his problem, and none of her business.

Tsukiko: Okay, maybe you’re right, but I still want to ask if you’re really going to go through with the matchmaking.

Hoshizuki: Yes. I’ve made up my mind.

He picks up the papers he was working on and pointedly ignores her. Tsukiko is overwhelmed with the situation and just stands there. Eventually Hoshizuki looks up and coolly asks if there was something else she wanted, because he’s busy. There’s a finality to his words, a stark end to the previous conversation that she can’t deny.

Tsukiko says that was all she came to ask and excuses herself.

Out in the hall, she finds Haruki and Mizushima waiting for her. They can tell from the look of her that asking Hoshizuki directly did not go well. This is all it takes to start the tears rolling down Tsukiko’s face. She tells them how Hoshizuki said he was going to do the matchmaking and how it was none of her business. They listen sympathetically, and Mizushima calls Kota-nii an idiot, and stay with her until she stops crying.

Later that night, back in her dorm room, she’s calmed down but still not quite over the shock. She’s actually a little embarrassed at how emotional it’s making her, as well as surprised at just how strong her feelings for Hoshizuki had become.

She’s also still not satisfied with his answer about why he decided to do the matchmaking. He’d said he felt he didn’t deserve to be loved… and had clearly meant it in a way that seemed he intended to be alone forever. So why did he change his mind so suddenly?

Alone in her room, Tsukiko murmurs aloud, “Hoshizuki-sensei…”

“...I wish we could spend more time together.”

“...I wish you’d fall in love with me.”

“...I wish we could be lovers.”

That last one is like a parody of an otome game. No, we are taking that first option.

She says the words towards the school. He seems so far away, and that’s all she really wants. She wants to spend more time together, to be closer to him. She knows it’s wrong, but she’s got such strong feelings for him that it’s to the point where she simply has to say something.

Tsukiko makes up her mind.

She’ll confess her feelings to Hoshizuki.

She knows that it probably won’t go well, and she may end up even more hurt than she is now. But, it’s something she feels she has to do…

If she doesn’t say something, she might never be able to truly let go of her feelings for him.

She got sick, so she didn’t really participate much towards the end, but she did get at least one good, if bittersweet, memory out of it. All that’s left now is to get on the bus and return to the Seigetsu Gakuen campus.

Since Tsukiko’s still not quite 100% better, she gets assigned the seat next to Hoshizuki-sensei on the bus. A quick glance back at her fellow students not long after the bus sets off, she sees that most of them have already fallen asleep. She and Hoshizuki are two of the very few people still awake, and since it’s so quiet it feels almost like they’re alone together…

...which brings to mind the events of the previous day. Tsukiko can feel her heart begin to beat a little faster at the memory… She hopes he doesn’t notice. To try and maintain composure, she keeps her eyes turned to outside the window.

Little does she know, she’s not the only one struggling with a secret from yesterday.

“Hey, Yahisa…”

Unexpectedly, Hoshizuki breaks the silence. What does he want? Well…

“Have you ever, uh, kissed anyone…?”

Tsukiko can only say “Huh?!” for a long moment while her mind races to catch up. What? Why is he asking that all of a sudden? Does he… know what she did yesterday after all?!

Before she can find the actual words to ask him why he asks, he ‘explains’ that he was just thinking a girl her age must have fallen in love at some point, right? It wouldn’t be unusual for her to have already experienced her first kiss, right?

...oh. Um.

Okay, maybe he doesn’t know what happened yesterday, she thinks.

Tsukiko struggles to remain casual and says yeah, she’s kissed...someone. She keeps it to herself that said ‘someone’ was Hoshizuki-sensei the day before and that said kiss had been her first ever. When he doesn’t say anything right away, Tsukiko hesitantly wills herself to look at his face…

“I see… That’s good…”

This seems… an odd reaction to her. Why does he ask, anyway? Oh, he tries to laugh it off, nothing. It’s nothing. She should get some sleep. He’s going to go to sleep. He closes his eyes before she can get a word in and that’s...that?

As per usual, within seconds he’s actually asleep. Tsukiko almost watches him sleep, but then her eyes keep going towards his lips and she gets flustered. She wants to blame kissing him on the fever, but even so, she can feel her cheeks growing warm just thinking about it.

So much for sleeping on the bus home.

...still not better. Just the thought of getting up and getting dressed seems exhausting and she can’t quite work up the energy for it. Does she still have a fever?

There’s a knock at the door and she drags herself to her feet to answer. When she opens the door, it turns out her visitor is Hoshizuki coming to check up on her. Tsukiko knows if she admits she still doesn’t feel well he’ll make her stay in bed and miss out on the day’s activities. It’s the last day of the school trip, she wants to have fun with everyone, and… she secretly wanted to go somewhere with him…

Tsukiko: I’m feeling much better.

Hoshizuki: Liar. I can tell just from looking at you the fever hasn’t gone down.

Tsukiko murmurs an apology. At least she tried?

Hoshizuki feels her forehead and goes ‘hmm’ sympathetically. It actually feels like her temperature is higher than it was the night before. He’s sorry, but he can’t let her go out like that. She’ll have to stay behind at the hotel. Tsukiko feels her heart sink… she has the spend the whole day all by herself? That sucks.

Tsukiko: Do I really have to?

Hoshizuki: You really have to.

He tells her not to look so put out about it and she pouts that she’ll be lonely. He laughs a little and tells her she’s still a child if she thinks something like that. Tsukiko’s fever is making her feel petulant so she sulks, saying fine, whatever, she’s a child then, but she’s still going to be lonely.

He doesn’t say anything for what seems like a long moment. Tsukiko glances up at his face to see a number of mixed emotions there. Finally he gently informs her to rest easy, she won’t be all by herself. He’ll stay with her. Really?! She asks, and he answers with a soft, yeah.

Oh but wait, then she’ll feel bad for making him stay behind too.

Hoshizuki shakes his head at her. First she’s lonely, then she tries to tell him he doesn’t have to stay with her, she needs to make up her mind. In any case, it’s his job to stay with sick students.

Oh.

Right.

He’s not staying because of her, he’s staying because of work.

Tsukiko berates herself inwardly for not realizing it sooner and letting her imagination get the best of her.

Unaware of the new thing bringing Tsukiko down in addition to the fever, Hoshizuki asks her if she feels up to breakfast. She says she’ll try to stomach something, so he advises her to dress warm and go to breakfast and the morning meeting, then they’ll meet up again once everyone else has left. He pats her on the head and leaves.

As Tsukiko gets ready for breakfast, her head is full of the conflicting feelings she has about the day; she’s disappointed she can’t go out with her classmates, but at the same time, some small part of her is still excited that she’ll get to spend the whole day alone with Hoshizuki.

After breakfast and the morning meeting, Tsukiko sees Kanata and Suzuya off. They want to stay with her, but as they are sirs not appearing in this game, they can’t. Tsukiko tells them to have enough fun for her too. Haruki comes over to worry over her, but he’s sure she’ll be fine if Kotarou-sensei is with her. They part ways and Tsukiko turns to find Hoshizuki is already there to escort her back to her room.

Once there, he tells her to lie down and gets her a new cold compress. They take her temperature and he scolds her, it’s high enough that he’s almost begrudgingly impressed she tried to lie and say she was fine. He doesn’t care how much she was looking forward to the school trip, what if she’d collapsed somewhere? She apologizes and he accepts it, saying it doesn’t matter now.

Hoshizuki: Here, give me your hand.

Tsukiko, thinking maybe he remembered holding her hand from the last time she got sick, gets all flustered for a moment...until he puts water and some medicine in her hand. Way to play with our feelings, writers.

Hoshizuki shushes her when she tries to apologize again and tells her he’ll come check in on her periodically, so she should get some rest.

Wait, he’s going to leave her?

Hoshizuki points out that while she may be a child still, it wouldn’t be proper for him to stay in her room with just the two of them all day.

Okay, maybe he has a point, but did he have to call her a child again?

Oh, Tsukki.

Dear, dear, Tsukki.

He’s only fooling himself at this point.

In any case, he’s promised to come back and the medicine is starting to kick in already, making her drowsy. Before he goes though, can she ask one favour? Sure, what is it?

Um… will he hold her hand?

“Sure, if my hand will do…”

Of course it’ll do. Tsukiko reaches out from the bedcovers to carefully put her hand in his. He fondly comments on how she likes holding hands. The combination of fever and meds lulls Tsukiko into saying exactly what’s on her mind, and she tells him that she feels he might leave her if she doesn’t hold on to his hand.

Whether this means in a smaller “this moment” sense or a broader “for the rest of my life” sense is up to interpretation. (it could be both)

(can I just take a moment to gush over Ishida a moment here because oh man oh man, every line in this scene, okay game, but especially this scene is just perfection)

He laughs a little at this and guesses that means she wants him to stay there and hold her hand until she falls asleep. Yes, but if she could have her way, he’d stay even after she falls asleep. But that’s asking too much… isn’t it? He gently tells her fine, he gets it, he’ll stay for awhile, just go to sleep already.

Tsukiko closes her eyes and, comforted by the warmth of his hand around hers, drifts off to sleep…

…

Some time later, she wakes up and he’s still by her side. She hazily asks what time it is and he informs her it’s just past noon. Is she feeling any better?

Not really…

He takes her temperature again and sure enough, the fever is still there. She should go back to sleep. She hates to admit it, but that sounds best. After all that time she spent looking forward to the trip, and now on top of missing it, she’s making him miss it too.

He pats her head when she apologizes and reminds her that he comes along on all the school trips, so it’s not like he hasn’t been here before. He’s more sorry for her than for himself. He also blames himself for not realizing she wasn’t feeling well sooner.

(He might have noticed earlier if a certain pair of idiots hadn’t gotten him drunk, sure, but then we wouldn’t have this tender scene so cut the two drunks some slack)

Tsukiko protests that it’s her fault for not taking better care of herself. He frowns at her and says she puts others first too much. It’s okay for her to complain, or say no, or be a little selfish sometimes, you know?

He’s right… she complains openly, she was really looking forward to the trip and spending the free day walking around and seeing the sights with him. As soon as the words leave her mouth, she blushes. In response, he gives her one of his rare full smiles and suggests that in that case she should repeat a year at school so they can spend next year’s school trip together. Tsukiko giggles and calls that a nice idea. The fact that she can laugh at his joke is a good sign. If her fever goes down by the evening, he says they can maybe go for a walk at least. In the meantime, she should try to eat something for lunch. Does she feel up to it? Tsukiko says she does, but then worriedly asks if he’ll stay with her again after she eats. Bemused, he promises that he’ll come back to hold her hand after lunch.

He helps her up to eat, and afterwards, they return to her room. Just like in the morning, Hoshizuki holds Tsukiko’s hand until she falls asleep…

And here, we switch to Hoshizuki’s point of view…

“Oh… she’s asleep, is she?”

“*yawn* Now I’m getting sleepy… Maybe I’ll lie down for a bit.”

Oh man oh man is that ever pretty.

I love this scene.

I love this route.

Hoshizuki shifts position to get more comfortable, and is very aware of the small, warm hand within his. It occurs to him how wrong this is, they’re student and teacher, not to mention a woman and a man, how must it look for them to be lying side by side, holding hands like this? Not only that, but once he’s on his side, naturally that puts him very close to her face.

No but really, that’s so pretty.

What a great facial expression, it conveys so much.

Okay, enough squeeing back to the story.

Hoshizuki feels so bad for Tsukiko, he saw her looking through pamphlets a lot and heard her talk about coming on this trip...only for her to have to miss it like this. Not only that, but she still has the softness of heart to feel bad about making him miss out. He keeps telling himself that she’s a child and he shouldn’t… but he finds that really sweet.

Tsukiko shifts in her sleep and her grip on his hand tightens every so slightly. This makes him smile fondly at her. There’s a lot, actually, that he finds sweet about her. How she lets her emotions show, in how she reacts, and smiles, and pouts, and defies expectations. She always seems to be living life to the fullest…

In her sleep, Tsukiko murmurs, “Hoshizuki-sensei, I’m sorry…”

Why is she apologizing, he wonders? Because she thinks she made him work more, or because she thinks he wanted to spend the day out sightseeing?

Before he realizes, he’s murmured her name and leaned forward…

Ohhhhmanohmanohman

Hoshizuki gently puts his lips over hers, as if to put her worries at ease.

Can I just say that the artist’s use of facial expressions in this scene is on point? I’m just so in love with everything about it. Look at that face. That is the face of someone who’s just realized a whole world of things and is struggling to deal with it.

Hoshizuki suddenly wants nothing more than to leave that place and forget about what he just did… but that would mean letting go of her hand.

“What am I doing…?”

He realizes he’s falling… no, he’s fallen for her. Before he realized it, it was too late for him. But it doesn’t have to be too late for her. He still believes he doesn’t deserve to be loved by anyone, because he couldn’t face someone’s feelings for him once before.

“If that was your first kiss… I’m so sorry…”

He thinks to himself that she can never know what happened. She can never know how he feels. Apologizing would be too easy, this way, the guilt will remind him and be his penance. He’ll use it to motivate him to keep his distance from her after the school trip is over. He’s surprised and ashamed of his own egoism. She looks so peaceful sleeping there, unawares, and the feel of her hand almost brings tears to his eyes.

He got too close.

At the very least, he’ll allow himself to sleep here, with her warm hand in his. He can tell himself then it was all a dream, a brief, happy moment before he woke up. He traces the memory of the kiss with his fingertips and closes his eyes…

Tsukiko comes slowly awake, aware only that something...vaguely… sad happened. Something sad and sweet seems to linger on her lips. She also comes aware of a faint warmth, and the feeling that if she’s not careful it’ll get away from her…

...this, she realizes is Hoshizuki’s hand, still wrapped around hers.

Hoshizuki-sensei’s sleeping next to me…

She watches him sleep a moment, taking in what might be the first time he looked completely relaxed that she’s seen. It’s a rare sight and she wants to cherish it… because, she realizes, she truly does cherish him. She leans forward, wondering what he could be dreaming of… and is just in time to hear him murmur the words, “I’m sorry…” in his sleep.

Tsukiko watches him closely, curiously. She doesn’t know what he’s apologizing for, but for some reason it puts a pang in her heart. Before she realizes it, this propels her forward, and she gently kisses his lips, softly, so as not to wake him. If he knew, he would definitely start to avoid her.

Tsukiko wants nothing more than to always be at his side. Even if she can never tell him how she feels...she wants to be there for him… so that, at the very least, he won’t be so lonely anymore. She loves him so much, just knowing that makes her incredibly happy. With this knowledge in her heart, she falls back asleep…

The next time she wakes, she’s greeted by a sleepy Hoshizuki, who awoke before her. By the sounds of it, not too long before her, though. Is she feeling any better now?

Actually, she is. Her head feels much more clear now, thanks to him.

He’s happy to hear that, he says, and gets to his feet. His fingers brush past hers and she tries to say something, but he brusquely tells her to get a bit more sleep until dinner time. He’ll come back and wake her then.

Uh-oh.

He’s going to leave.

She knows it would be pushing it to ask him to stay, but…

“I’m sorry you have to go…”

“I’ll stay here.”

“I wish you’d stay with me a little longer.”

This is an interesting set of choices, and if you know Hoshizuki’s character well enough, it’s easy to see how the first would be the best option.

So that’s what we’ll go with.

In response he says he understands how being alone when you’re sick is no fun and offers to ask another teacher to stay with her.

Tsukiko, still willing to be honest with herself after the little pep talk he gave her earlier, says she would prefer if he stayed. This amuses him and he calls her on it. She immediately apologizes. For a moment he turns serious and averts his gaze. She doesn’t have to apologize. But at the same time, the other students should be coming back soon and he has to help take attendance.

He leaves and Tsukiko is left alone with her thoughts.

She kissed him.

Just thinking about it makes her heart beat faster. She can never tell anyone, though.

Out in the hall, Hoshizuki dwells on the fact that he didn’t want to leave her, but being alone with her was just too much for him to deal with right now. He needs this time to sort out his feelings.

Everyone except for Tsukiko that is, who had two sleepless nights in a row and is feeling the lethargy that comes as a result. Since today’s activities involve a lot of travelling around by bus, she figures she’ll get through it, however...

“Yahisa, you don’t look so good. Are you feeling alright?”

She doesn’t want to worry him, so she puts a smile on her face and says she’s fine. He looks skeptical. Is she sure she’s fine? She looks a bit pale. He sternly reminds her to come to him if she starts to feel unwell. Tsukiko says she will and goes to join the other students on the bus.

Later, when they return to the hotel from sightseeing, Tsukiko goes to her room to get some rest and discovers she has a fever. She hates to admit that she’s gotten sick, but she picks herself up and goes in search of Hoshizuki-sensei. As luck would have it, he happens to be in the hallway. Before she can explain, he takes one look at her and correctly guesses that she has a fever. He tells her to stay still for a moment and puts a hand to her forehead. Sure enough, it feels like it’s high enough that he tells her to turn around and go straight back to bed for the rest of the day.

Back in Tsukiko’s hotel room, Hoshizuki-sensei gives her some medicine and prepares a cold compress. Now all that’s left is for her to get some proper rest.

Tsukiko thanks him and apologizes for taking his time when she knows he’s busy. He scoffs and reminds her that taking care of sick students is his job. He then gently pats her head and hopes that she’ll feel better in the morning. Tomorrow’s the free day, remember? If she doesn’t get better, she won’t be able to go out and spend time with her friends.

He’s right, she giggles. She’ll try.

He says a fond good night and leaves.

Haruki-sensei is trying to wrangle everyone together so he can take attendance. Next to him, Mizushima is yawning and Hoshizuki is complaining about what a pain all the preparation he’s had to do was. So basically everyone is exactly as you’d expect them to be.

Tsukiko yawns too, and reflects on how she didn’t get much sleep. That must be why she’s feeling a little under the weather, too… But she can’t let that get her down. She’s been looking so forward to this school trip, she can’t wait to make all sorts of good memories out of it!

The first night of the school trip involves everyone going out stargazing together. Tsukiko thinks it’s nice to see the sky from somewhere other than the school grounds for a change and enjoys it. The students review the 12 constellations that can be viewed in the autumn sky.

After the lesson, they go back to the hotel and Tsukiko feels a little lonely by herself. This is another one of those moments where being the only girl makes her feel left out. Because of this, she has trouble sleeping again, and when she goes out to use the bathroom later, she notices on the way back that the light in one of the teachers’ rooms is still lit. She’s pretty sure that room was supposed to be Haruki’s room… they’re still up? Figuring that maybe they’re up late planning the next day’s activities, she starts to tip toe past in an effort not to disturb them.

It doesn’t work, because Haruki finds her. What’s she doing still awake?

She admits she can’t sleep and tells him she appreciates his hard work. He asks what she means and when she explains he laughs a little and says she’s got it all wrong. But since she can’t sleep, why doesn’t she stop by their room? They have juice.

Is that okay?

Sure it’s okay, he assures her. It’s just him, Mizushima, and Hoshizuki, so not all that different from when they’re hanging out in the nurse’s office, right? He has a point, so she accepts his office and follows him into the room. There she finds that they weren’t working late into the night, they were drinking. The other two teachers welcome Tsukiko into their little circle. Mizushima asks Tsukiko to pour him a drink and Hoshizuki scolds him because that’s something he should be asking of a student.

When has that ever stopped him, though?

I mean, really.

Haruki pours Tsukiko some juice and they have a toast. Tsukiko notes that both Haruki and Mizushima instantly down their drinks while Hoshizuki sets his aside. This brings to mind an earlier conversation about how he’s not much of a drinker. Haruki complains that he’s not very good company, but Hoshizuki coolly shrugs this off and asks Tsukiko to pour him some of the juice she’s drinking.

Before she can, though, Mizushima tells her to wait.

Mizushima: >:D Hey, Haruki-sensei, you want to drink with Kota-nii, don’t you?

Haruki: Huh? O-Oh…! Yeah, yeah, I do!

“Wh-What’re you two up to…?”

You have to ask?

The two drunks tackle Hoshizuki. Mizushima holds him down while Haruki comes at him with a full glass of sake.

Hoshizuki tries to push Haruki away with his foot but it doesn’t work. They struggle like that while Tsukiko watches on, worried, asking just what the two drunks are up to. Then Mizushima gets impatient with how long it’s taking Haruki to get close enough to force Hoshizuki to drink and…

Welp.

Mizushima: He drank it!

Haruki: We did it!

Hoshizuki: I’ll get you for thzzzzzz…

The two drunk idiots are exceedingly proud of themselves for showing Tsukiko just what happens when Hoshizuki drinks alcohol. Tsukiko’s surprised, but once she gets over the initial shock, she just worries that he might catch cold sleeping on the floor where they left him. She grabs a nearby blanket to put over him and for a moment he opens his eyes to look up at her and sleepily murmur…

“Yahisa, you should sleep too already.”

She says she will and starts to insist that if he’s going to sleep he should get in his futon, but trails off when he sleepily grabs for her hand. Before she can recover from this, he’s fallen back asleep. For a moment she just stares at him. He really is beautiful… Before she snaps back to reality and hurriedly excuses herself back to her room.

We don’t hear another peep from the other two teachers during this. One can only assume they’re either a) off drinking in their own little worlds, b) watching on, amused and already more aware of what’s going on between Hoshizuki and Tsukiko than even they do, or c) passed out drunk themselves.

“Hi, Yahisa.”

Hoshizuki greets Tsukiko and breaks her train of thought. He comments that she looks full of energy even though it’s so early. Tsukiko laughs and says he looks as non-energetic as usual, but isn’t he excited about tomorrow?

Tomorrow? What’s tomorrow…?

Uh… the school trip?

Oh yeah, that. He totally forgot about that.

How could he forget? Tsukiko can’t imagine forgetting something like that. She can’t wait! He looks amused and tells her to go ahead and enjoy herself.

Okay, while Hoshizuki may be pretty low-key about it, do you know who’s just as, if not more excited than Tsukiko about the school trip? I’ll give you a hint, his name starts with H and ends with ‘aruki-sensei’.

He gives a super excited run-down of the itinerary to the class, then warns everyone not to be so excited they can’t sleep and consequently oversleep and miss the bus in the morning. He tries to get Mizushima into helping explain but Mizushima’s his usual self and just complains a lot. Tsukiko expected this and finds their usual comedy routine amusing.

After class, she heads to the nurse’s office for a meeting about the health reps’ roles in the school trip. Since she was on cleaning duty and ran late, she arrives after the meeting is already over and only Hoshizuki is there. He doesn’t mind catching her up to speed but asks her to wait until he finishes making up one of the beds.

Was he sleeping on the job again?

No, he says, just a little defensively. Since she was late, he filled the time by changing the linens. Oh, in that case, she offers to help, and insists when he tries to tell her to wait while he does it. She reaches for the futon in his hands but loses her balance and topples over into him. In true otome game fashion they fall over into a heap but alas there is no CG for this. Why? Whyyyy? (actually I know why, we get a much better one later in the game BUT STILL)

Hoshizuki chides her and asks if she’s okay, but then he and she both realize how close they are in proximity to each other and are surprised into mutual silence. They’ve ended up with him on top of her, so Tsukiko couldn’t move if she wanted to. But more importantly…

How could I move with him looking at me like that…?

Hoshizuki finds his voice first, averting his gaze and apologizing. The slightly gravelly, emotional voice that Ishida uses here is exquisite.

Tsukiko quietly tells him not to worry about it and they both finally get up. He gruffly shoos her away so he can change the sheets, and Tsukiko takes this time to calm down. She thought her heart would stop there for a moment.

As it is, her heart beats furiously all through watching him change the sheets and the brief meeting they have after he’s done.

Tsukiko’s just wondering this herself when who should get up on stage to address the students, but…

“Hello everyone, it’s nice to meet you all.”

These games were made on such a shoestring budget they didn’t even bother to give her an alternate header with her name to go with Hoshizuki’s route. If you remember, we don’t get her name prior to this scene in Naoshi or Mizushima’s routes.

Anyway, Koharu introduces herself and explains that she’s been supporting the school in the background. She had always thought her job meant staying out of sight and merely making things run smoothly, but today she has an important announcement to make, so she’s taken this opportunity to greet the students directly.

With a smile she says that it’s kind of odd timing, because her announcement is that… she’s stepping down as the chairwoman of the school. In her place, Hoshizuki Kotarou will become the new chairman of Seigetsu Gakuen.

Now then, we all saw this coming, and if you’ve played the other routes you know that if Tsukiko spends her time with Naoshi or Mizushima, then this scene comes wayyy out of left field. It also doesn’t make sense, since Hoshizuki’s decision to become chairman only really came after Tsukiko had given him that last bit of encouragement. Granted, he might have made the decision on his own, but then if he was going to make the decision anyway, Tsukiko’s help in his route is kind of a moot point. It’s like Schrodinger's chairman or something.

Personally, if I were making this story and not on a bare bones budget I’d have relegated this scene to just Hoshizuki’s route and made other little scenes to fill the gap in the other guys’ route. This is why I don’t make games I just translate them.

Anyway, to this end, in the other guys’ routes I didn’t screencap New!chairman Hoshizuki to save the surprise for this route.

Koharu invites Hoshizuki up on stage to say his piece and we get a look at Hoshizuki Kotarou looking absolutely freaking gorgeous in a black suit.

With the slicked back and unbound hair too, Starry Sky artist you are amazing and I love you.

I also want to know what kind of surprise celebration invention Hayato and Kazuki just prevented from exploding in the background. Poor Tsubasa.

Hoshizuki takes the stand and confirms that he’s the new chairman of the school, telling everyone to settle down when the students immediately begin talking amongst themselves out of surprise. He explains that he’s taking the position so that his sister, Koharu, can achieve her dream of studying abroad.

“So that’s how it is. In any case, I’ll kind of do my best. That seem okay with you all?”

He’ll “kind of” do his best…? Seems suspect but also sounds like the same old Hoshizuki-sensei. The students are fine with it. But wait, who’s going to be school nurse? Oh, he’s going to keep being the school nurse, too. He explains that he prefers to interact with the students personally, so he’s decided to do both jobs.

The students all cheer and shout words of encouragement. Tsukiko is happy for Hoshizuki-sensei along with them…

...but there’s a small part of her that feels this change puts more distance between them. He seems even farther and out of reach from her now. As if to only drive this feeling home, when she tries to go congratulate him personally after the assembly, she sees he’s surrounded by students and gives up. She supposes she’ll congratulate him later.

However, just as she turns to go, Hoshizuki shoos the students away and comes over to talk to her. What did she think of his speech?

She was a little surprised, but he’s Chairman Hoshizuki now, isn’t he?

“It must be weird for the school nurse to also be the chairman.”

Tsukiko giggles and agrees that it’ll be weird to see the chairman wearing a labcoat. That’s true, but it’s the decision he’s made, and he’ll be counting on her help. Tsukiko happily says of course he can count on her, and tells him to do his best. He smiles and thanks her.

Nearby, Tsukiko hears her classmates marvel over seeing such a smile on Hoshizuki’s face. They think Yahisa must be really amazing to have that effect on people.

Hoshizuki overhears this too and tells them to scram.

Awata: See what we mean? This is the attitude we get!

Tsukiko’s so beside herself with excitement she almost forgets to do her homework. In a hurry she gathers up what she needs and ducks out to do some observations at the rooftop gardens.

The night is chilly, reminding her that it is November already. She’s surprised to find Hoshizuki-sensei up at the gardens when she gets there. He’s equally surprised to see her and asks what she’s doing up there. Upon hearing the reason for it, he chastises her not for the forgetting her homework part but the coming out alone at night part. Tsukiko apologizes, then asks what brought him up here.

He’s just thinking.

Does he mind if she does her homework next to him while he thinks?

He doesn’t.

Tsukiko settles in to do her homework, but she’s distracted by Hoshizuki and the mystery of what could be bothering him, and has trouble concentrating. What could he be thinking about? Should she ask?

“Please tell me what you’re thinking!”

“Hoshizuki-sensei, I’m willing to listen if you want to talk about it?”

“I can’t help but wonder what you’re thinking.”

The middle option suits Tsukiko best.

She offers to listen and he turns from the stars above to look directly at her. He looks surprised for a brief moment, before he teases that she doesn’t seem very reliable. Also he’s not sure how it would look for an adult like him to ask a child like her for advice. Tsukiko doesn’t rise to the bait this time, however. She instead points out that even if he thinks she’s a child, that doesn’t mean she can’t listen.

He’s sorry, he shouldn’t have said that…

He turns back to looking up at the sky and Tsukiko joins him in doing so, homework all but forgotten. It’s a full moon tonight, and she comments on how lovely it looks… and how strong it is.

“Where did that come from?”

Tsukiko tells him how, as she sees it, the moon is always there for them. It shines brightly, even when it’s so dark the stars are barely visible and when clouds get in its way, so that they won’t feel lonely during the night. She admires that. And looking at the moon helps her to feel more relaxed, safe in the knowledge that the moon will always be up in the sky when she looks for it, so she’s never alone. He probably thinks that sounds silly.

Hoshizuki tells her he doesn’t. He, in fact, rather likes that way of thinking.

Hearing him say he likes something she said makes Tsukiko’s heart beat a little faster. Even though she knows what he means, just hearing the words…

Hesitantly she gets to the point and tells him she wishes she could be to him what the moon is to her. When he doesn’t respond immediately she hurries to explain that she wishes he’d rely on her when he’s feeling lonely or sad. She wants him to know she’ll always be there for him… when he needs her.

Hoshizuki: You’re still just a child…

Tsukiko: Which is exactly why that’s really all I can offer to do for you.

It’s why she offered to listen… is that not enough to convince him to talk?

He’s silent for so long she begins to worry that maybe she overstepped their boundaries a little too much. Then, softly…

Hoshizuki: So…

Tsukiko: Y-Yes…?

Hoshizuki: What would you think if I became chairman?

Tsukiko’s not sure what she was expecting, but it wasn’t that. But now that she thought about it, he was the son of the former chairman and the younger brother of the current chairwoman… it could happen. Tsukiko tries to imagine what Chairman Hoshizuki Kotarou would be like… and decides with a giggle that he probably wouldn’t change much.

He sounds amused when he asks what she’s laughing at.

She explains that she’s decided no matter what job he has, he’ll always be the same Hoshizuki-sensei in her mind.

She sure came to that decision easily, he says with a good-natured sigh of exasperation. But she’s right… it’s not really that big of a deal, is it?

Tsukiko: Did something happen with Koharu-san?

Hoshizuki: Kind of. She’s decided she wants to work overseas with my father. But if she does that… she won’t be able to keep up with her work here.

That said, he’s already been handling a lot of her work… which is why he’s been so tired lately. Hearing this, Tsukiko finally has a reason for all the times he’s seemed overworked and all the times he’d left the office for hours at a time… it explains a lot of things she’d wondered about.

Tsukiko: Sorry for calling you lazy.

Hoshizuki: It’s okay, you’re still right about that.

It also explains why he overdid things and collapsed. He admits this is true, although he maintains that he didn’t mean to let it get that bad. Tsukiko chides him for not taking better care of himself and he agrees to make a better effort at it.

Still, Tsukiko steers the conversation back to the original topic. She’s surprised to hear Koharu wants to go overseas. And she asked Hoshizuki-sensei to take over as chairman? Hoshizuki smiles ruefully and says there’s no one else she can ask, really. So what’s the problem? Tsukiko asks, she thinks it’s a good idea. Hoshizuki’s not sure though, he likes his work as the school nurse, it gives him more time with the students on a personal level, and if he takes the chairman position he won’t have as much time for it.

Oh, good point. Tsukiko thinks to herself that it would also mean less time for them to spend together…

At the same time, hearing him talk about all the little everyday moments he cherishes with the students warms her heart and makes her fall for him a little more. But a little voice in the back of her head reminds her that he only started studying medicine because of someone special to him that he still thinks about to this day…

But anyway, he concludes, that’s what’s been bothering him lately. He has two options he can’t decide between; help his sister out and take the chairman position, or stay the school nurse and have more time with the students like he’s always had.

Tsukiko thinks the solution is easy though.

Oh? How so?

It’ll be hard work but...why not do both? No matter which choice he makes, he’ll regret not taking the other at some point, so he should do both. That way he can say he has no regrets, no matter what happens.

Plus, he has her to help with the nurse’s office duties, right?

Not only that, but she’s certain Haruki-sensei will be willing to help out any way he can.

Hoshizuki has no counterargument, in fact, he rather likes the idea. It’s definitely one that he would never have come up with on his own. She’s right, though, and thanks to her he’s made up his mind.

That’s great! Tsukiko tells him to make sure he asks her whenever he needs help.

“I’m counting on you.”

He reaches out and pats her head, then adds, by the way, how’s her homework coming along?

Uh-oh…

He tells her to hurry and finish. He’ll wait with her… she’s afraid of the dark, after all, isn’t she? She admits that yes, yes she is and he laughs. She’s still just a kid after all. She pouts both at him calling her a child and at the fact that she can’t say he’s wrong in this case. Then she sneezes and he moves a little closer…

“Are you cold? Here, wear my coat.”

If you look closely, and it’s hard to tell with the artist’s particular style, but he’s ever so slightly blushing and I love that.

She tries to protest but he insists. This spurs Tsukiko to hurry and finish her homework before he catches cold or something…

While she works we switch to Hoshizuki’s perspective. He’s made up his mind, and he appreciates how Tsukiko helped him come to a resolution. He tells himself it’s because she can look at the problem with the fresh mindset of youth. The fact that he couldn’t do that only reminds him of their age gap.

He envies her freedom.

He also thinks about how nice it felt to have someone be there for him, to listen and be supportive, and to push him gently in the right direction. But he gave up the right to have someone like that a long time go. Tsukiko had said she wanted to be like the moon, to always be there for him…

We actually join Tsukiko after all the festivities are over. She took a moment after her work with the student council was done at the rooftop gardens, and was just about to leave when she heard her name being called.

It’s Haruki-sensei, who’s sitting with Mizushima and Hoshizuki. He invites her to join them and when she does, Tsukiko immediately can smell the alcohol. Is he drinking already?

Well yeah, look how pretty the sky is tonight! How could he not drink to that?

Any excuse, am I right?

Mizushima offers Tsukiko a drink, surmising that she’ll probably look cute with a little flush in her cheeks from being tipsy.

Haruki: How dare you tempt my student like that?! She’s still a pure young lady!

Mizushima: A little temptation is good for the soul! It’s not good to shelter her too much from the world!

“That almost sounds logical enough to believe it’s true. Anyway, here’s some juice.”

Anyway, Tsukiko joins them but sans alcoholic drinks. Haruki is a rather loud drunk, which gets good-natured annoyed reactions out of Mizushima and Hoshizuki and amuses Tsukiko.

I love all their costumes by the way.

Hoshizuki looks very handsome.

Anyway, the four of them nerd out about the autumn sky and how while there aren’t very many bright stars that stand out, there are lots of constellations that derive from interesting myths and legends. They talk in particular about the story of Perseus and Andromeda, and the pulsating star Mira, as well as the Andromeda galaxy, which is so large it puts into perspective just how tiny not only our galaxy is, but us as well. It’s a sobering though.

Haruki: which can only mean it’s time to drink more!!

Tsukiko asks if they drink together under the stars often. Hoshizuki tells her he’s not much of a drinker, so he just keeps Naoshi company. Not much of a drinker? Tsukiko asks if that means he’s a lightweight, and Mizushima laughs a little. Kota-nii’s always been a lightweight. Haruki chimes in and says it’s true, whenever he does drink, he falls right to sleep. Hoshizuki tells him that if he’s going to pout about it, don’t invite him then. This doesn’t sit right with, admittedly very drunk already, Haruki and he begins to pout exaggeratedly, throwing their little party into chaos.