Dumping my rambling here because I spent way too much time on this and I want to fucking sleep
It's time to choose career paths so of course it's going to be talked about a lot. Career paths determine what classes you're getting for the next year and sets you up for college. There's humanities/liberal arts and sciences to choose from and the latter is obviously much more difficult. Depending on what they choose they could be separated from their friends the next year which is something Hayana's cliques probably doesn't want. However changing your future's path just to stay with friends isn't smart and Hayama knows this and holds it back which surprises them. The conversation then transitions into the rumor. The rumor floating about saying that Yukino and Hayato are dating. This clearly irritates Hayama and he must've been really pissed to drop his "nice guy" facade in front of his friends for the first time. Dammit virgin Oooka (or was it Yamato who never got any pootang?) Hayama wasn't the only who's pissed, Miura is, too. How dare someone steal her husbando! There's also someone else who's bothered by the rumor.
The clubroom is celebrating Yukino's birthday and Isshiki's also there for some odd reason. Both Hachiman and Yui know of the rumor but kept silent but this dumb bitch just blurts it out. With Hayama snapping there's no way to know how Yukino would react. For now she lets Isshiki live. Even if she hadn't told her the rumor would have eventually reached Yukino's ears anyways with her and Hayama being the two most popular kids at school a rumor of them together was inevitably going to blow up. Not only that it's also the first rumor involving Hayama. While Yukino can just ignore it Hayama can't. Dumbfucks keep asking him out to the point where it's more a pain than anything. Even without that having people talk about them behind their backs is unnerving and rather bothersome. For some reason people really like digging into other people's lives.
Miura then enters the room (without knocking!) and Isshiki leaves (without boxes!). It's a clash between two queens. They never got physical in the anime but whatever. Miura also asks the same question to Yukino. In the end she just wants to know Hayama's career path. Their relationship has been strained for a while now and them breaking apart was inevitable. Facing the career path is looking straight into that inevitability.
Yukino giving Hachiman MAX Coffee, I see. Truly based. It's only obvious that Hachiman asks Hayama. Yukinoshita is also part of the rumor so someone seeing them together will only propel it even further. Yui is one the same level as Tobe and Hayama didn't tell him. If it can't be someone close to him it has to be someone furthest away: Hachiman, Hayama's antithesis. But even then Hayama doesn't tell him. It'll defeat the purpose of keeping it to himself, after all. Deciding your future just because of someone else you're going to regret it. Especially if it's for someone you don't truly know, just someone's caricature. Hayama hates people gossiping and digging into his life and Hachiman is doing just that or promoting it by asking. I feel as though the anime missed the broader point of this scene. This scene reveals how he seems to be used to these kinds of things. Having rumors about him float around and getting in the way of life and Yukino's too.
Damn, they cut out tsundere Zaimokusa. He always gets cut out :( Such is life of chuuni. Just as Hachiman's illusion of people gets shattered, he views Zaimokusa in a different way. While most people go with subjects they're familiar with Zaimokusa went with the sciences because it was uncomfortable. If you don't face your fears you won't learn, he says. Of course that doesn't apply to girls which the sciences have fewer of. Quality > quantity I suppose.
Just as Hachiman's illusion of people gets shattered, he views Totsuka in a different way. He only saw Totsuka as a cute face and nothing really beyond that. He never really cared to know about Saika Totsuka. The hardworking club president people look up to, the person who looks up to Hachiman. Totsuka legitimately wanted to be friends with Hachiman. Sure they talk to each other often but that's not really friendship. Hachiman never really opened up to him and never hinted that he was going to. While they still never did, it's a step in the right direction. Just by being nice to each other all the time their shallow friendship would have withered away. Gradually, little by little they'd be able to truly face each other.
They also cut out Hachiman's talk with Hiratsuka. They talk about the future and how easily it can be changed. Even if you decide to do sciences you can always switch to liberal arts and vise versa. Even past that you can transfer colleges and change careers further along the road. Choosing liberal arts/sciences doesn't set your future in stone, it's just one of many opportunities presented in life. So why is Hayama keeping it a secret? They also talk about the International Liberal Studies for people who want to travel beyond Nipponland and how Hachiman can be a good teacher (lmao) if he really tried.
Hachiman's talk with Ebina was omitted, as well. She talks about how everyone trusts Hayama and he always lives up to people's expectations. Even if Hayama's path was leaked nothing would change because Hayama would find a way to sweep it under the rug and Miura would follow so their clique won't break apart. So once again, why is Hayama hiding his career path?
And so appears Haruno. The woman with a fifty foot thick facade. Haruno-lite (Isshiki) sucks up to her but Haruno saw right through that shit. Also Meguri was there. Was. Was until she got FEEL'd (wait that doesn't sound right). The main point of this scene is the interactions with Yukino and Haruno. Yukino should have had an idea of what Hayama's career path would have been but being dependent on others makes you weak and makes you unable to do things on your own. Yukino just like Hachiman always figured out problems on her own but now that's there's Hachiman and others to rely on that part of her went numb. But that's not necessarily a bad thing but it is in Haruno's eyes. Haruno also asks Yukino about her career path but she doesn't say so she asks Hachiman to ask for her. The dumb bitch Isshiki also let the rumor slip to Haruno who just says "that's something they've been through since a long time ago."
And now we're at the marathon. In a sea of people it'll be difficult to face Hayama face to face so he asks Totsuka and has his tennis club hold up everyone else temporarily. Hayama has good grades so he could easily go either way. His father is a lawyer and his grandfather is a doctor. When deciding which path to choose people throw away subjects they dislike and things they don't want to do. To Hayama other people are a pain. Always having to live up to expectations of other people and never getting a chance to be himself so by choosing sciences he'd throw away his relationships and thus most of his expectations. Hayama is impressed by his warped way of thinking but that't also why he hates him. What does Hayama lose to with Hachiman? His ability to solve problems even if it's in a twisted, underhanded way. Hayama mentioned trying to save something but losing it but Hachiman was able to save things. Even now he solved the problem. Deep down in Hayama it doesn't matter what he chooses but by chooses sciences he'll lose to Hachiman. Hayama then proceeds to win the marathon for the second year in the row while Hachiman falls on his face. I can relate :( feelsbadman.png
Hayama quickly kills the rumor while Hachiman limps away. Ah yes, the infirmary scene. So she tells Hachiman her career path but not Haruno. No episode would be complete without Yui suffering. Hayama apologizes to Yukinoshita face to face rather than through Hachiman like he originally intended. They cut out any references to that time but it doesn't even matter if the anime isn't even going to cover that. Yukinoshita also says that they shouldn't let the past tie them down to Hayama but also to Hachiman indirectly. If she's not following Haruno's shadow whose is she following or is she even following anyone's? Hayama says that's all there is to it so it probably means Yukino still hadn't changed at her core. Yukinoshita followed Haruno's shadow because she wanted to be like her and looked up to her. I'm guessing she's now following Hachiman's shadow for the same reason meaning she still didn't change much deep inside. Of course Hachiman doesn't know this. Hayama knew all along it doesn't matter what he chooses and the group will stay together but he kept his mouth shut because his path wasn't his choice. While he told people they'll regret choosing their path because of him he's the one who truly regretted it. Hayama could only cling on to the best solution to continue to answer people's expectations. Those people who don't understand that only keeps him down. Hayama, just like Hachiman, doesn't want people to be hurt so that's why even then he continues to live up to people's expectations. That's why he doesn't choose and that doesn't sit right with Hachiman. Because that's just self satisfaction. Only when someone calls Hayama out on his insincere answers can he answer honestly.
They never really focused on a single scene so the fragmented scenes lose some of its meaning so I tried to fill that in. What they skipped that bothers me the most is Hachiman's reaction to the rumors. Someone who stays willfully apathetic about other people and things that don't concern him was bothered by the rumor. It speaks a lot about his character and his thoughts on Yukino. Maybe he was just angry at people spouting shit they know nothing about but even then he's bothered by it.