Suzuka Ep 24: Shissou (Disappearance)

The Tokyo tournament begins where Yamato is hyped up over the upcoming race. Meanwhile, Suzuka manages to clear her event with a good result which will allow her to take part in the Kantou tournament.

As Yamato keeps telling himself that he will confess to Suzuka again about his feelings if he gets No.1, he can't help but wonder if she will reject him again. When he recalls how Suzuka offered her best wishes to him for the race, he gets encouraged about his chances in succeeding.

Miyamoto comes to ask Yamato about his running style for the race and the latter happily remarks that he will follow what he has been doing during training. Miyamoto seems concerned about this but does not comment further and reminds Yamato to take it easy since he has to run in 3 races over the 2-day event. Yamato reassures him that everything will be fine and goes to do his warming-up. Miyamoto reveals to the captain that ever since Yamato changed his running style, he may have been suppressing his accleration rate unknowingly which results in his running time being slower than before. However, changing the running style is for Yamato's interests in the long run since that will make him a potential national champion even if he does lose to Arima in this tournament now.

The 100m race begins with Yamato taking the lead at the start. However, Arima gradually overtakes him and Yamato ends up being the last in the heat due to his inability to accelerate at will. In the end, Arima takes the gold medal for the race as Yamato wallows in despair over the result.

Miyamoto apologises to Yamato for getting him to change his running style in just 2 weeks but the latter says that it is his fault since his mind went blank during the race. Miyamoto encourages Yamato to work hard for the summer tournament instead but he keeps thinking that he's a burden to his teammates and isn't sure what he should do.

Yamato skips his dinner again which makes Miho comment that he's been like that since losing the race yesterday. Suzuka doesn't seem too interested in this topic and leaves the dining area after finishing her dinner. As such, Miho and Ayano wonder if Yamato and Suzuka are engaged in a cold war again.

In actual fact, Yamato is not so troubled over losing the race but rather not meeting Suzuka's expectations when she had even encouraged him to do his best. As such, Yamato doesn't know how he should face Suzuka. Just then, Suzuka comes to look for him and offers to cook boiled eggs for him since she bought too many during a sale. Yamato asks why she didn't cook it in her apartment but she says that she didn't want to waste her gas supplies since the eggs are meant for Yamato in the first place. When Yamato sees Suzuka washing his dirty dishes, he keeps wondering why she came to his place but gives up thinking since he can never comprehend her actions. Suzuka suddenly talks about her past experience of not doing well in the high-jump event which makes Yamato realise that she is here to get him to cheer up.

When Suzuka prepares to go home, Yamato decides to tell her about his feelings again and says that he will wait for her answer until the day he wins the next race. This makes Suzuka recall what Tsuda said to her on the day before he was killed in an accident and she stops Yamato from speaking further. Suzuka tells Yamato to stop whatever he's saying and rushes out of his apartment. This makes Yamato very upset since it means that he won't get a chance to confess again.

Miho comes to look for Yamato and reveals that Suzuka is not in her apartment. This makes Yamato get worried since it's been one hour after she ran out of his place. As such, he can't help but feel that his confession is the reason why Suzuka is still loitering outside.

Yamato goes out to look for Suzuka and calls Miki to help. Meanwhile, Suzuka is in tears as she walks around aimlessly and ends up at the shrine's entrance...

The more I watch this, the more irritated I get about the development of Yamato and Suzuka's relationship. It's so obvious that Suzuka does have feelings for Yamato but she seems to be backing out every now and then whenever something reminds her of the similarity between him and Tsuda. It's high time she got over Tsuda but of course, it's easier said than done. I get the feeling that she does like Yamato as compared to what she feels for Tsuda though. It's as if Tsuda was somewhat like an idol to her and she didn't really see him in the romantic sense until his confession. Unless she gets over this psychological barrier, there will be no resolution to the problem.