Kanon 23 — Yuuichi colapses in the snow and is rescued by a woman in a car who looks like Makoto. He awakes in a strange apartment and discovers his rescuer is Makoto-san, the woman that the kitsune Makoto based her human form on. Makoto-san knew Yuuichi from years before and was a neighbor. Meanwhile Kaori arrives at the Minase house where Kitagawa-kun is waiting. Nayuki doesn’t want to talk, so Kaori does it for her. Back at Makoto-san’s home Yuuichi and Makoto-san talk for a while. Yuuichi heads out to the field with the cut down tree and remembers Ayu. He dreams of being back with her, Nayuki, & Akiko-san back home. Awakening, he finds Ayu there waiting. Giving her back her backpack and the little angel, he tells her to give her third wish. Her wish is that he’d forget her, but he won’t grant that. So she gives another wish and disappears. That evening, Yuuichi sits at the bench that Ayu always sat at. Nayuki comes and they make up.

Another emotional episode, but the series still hasn’t made me ball like a baby as the original did. One more to go.

Honey and Clover II 03 — Hagu-chan admired Yamada’s collection of snow globes while in Tottori, Nomiya and Yamazaki discuss Yamada. At Harada Design, Yamada discovers Mayama has been invading Rika-san’s privacy by reviewing her Internet browsing history. He’s saved when a fax arrives, but then is upset as he confronts Rika-san over the contents of the fax. Apparently, it is for a job in Spain which will happen in a few months. He feels he’s going to be abandoned but Rika-san tells him he’s going with her because of the job, much to Yamada’s dismay. Nomiya calls Yamada and doesn’t buy her cheerful disposition, so returns to Tokyo to see her. Unfortunately, Miwako had sent her to Tottori, meaning he has to make a rapid 9-hour return drive. As Yamazaki stalls Yamada, Nomiya finally arrives and the next morning takes her around the local dunes. When he escorts her back to the train, he ends up confessing to her, much to her great surprise.

Well, I guess it was too much to hope that Mayama would ever go for Yamada, but I still don’t like the thought of Nomiya hooking up with her.

Honey and Clover II 04 — As the Hamabi Festival preparations begin at the art college, Hanamoto-sensei observes things and is reminded of his time with Rika-san and Harada when Hagu-chan finds a postcard with a Munch painting on it. He dreams of being with them again and in his dream, Harada has fallen into the lake (representing death) and Rika-san wants to follow him. He awakens and recalls how little he was able to do for her after the accident that killed Harada and how he’d begun to develop feeling for her, leading her to push him away. The next day after seeing an old man off, Mayama notices Rika-san look longingly at a train going the 19-hour distance to Hokkaido (her home). He pushes her onto the train and follows her, where she makes arrangements to secure a car for herself and Mayama. The train ride allows them to talk some and even spend part of a night together in the sleeping compartment until his discomfort leads him back to the seat in the car. They arrive at the remains of Rika-san’s childhood home and Rika-san opens up to Mayama. The two sleep together and when Rika-san tries to slip away early the next morning, she finds her purse has been trapped and alarmed, leading Mayama to confront her over her plans to leave him when she goes to Spain and for what he believes will be her last act before killing herself. Once the two return to Tokyo, he does see her off to Spain, where he learns that she’s changed her apartment from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom.

Wow. A lot happened here and the flow of the story to start from Hanamoto-sensei, to his past with Rika-san and Harada, to the present situation with Mayama went well. I was stunned that Rika-san slept with Mayama, but then as Mayama implied, that was to be her goodbye present to him since she never planned on returning. Still, for someone so willing to follow her husband to death, sleeping with another man seems unreal to me, even if it was out of appreciation for everything he’d done for her. But this is a josei romance title so a bit of unrealistic moments for a romantic moment are to be expected I suppose. It will be interesting to see where this goes, especially now that Mayama’s feelings would seem to no longer be unrequited.