Upon finishing a class at the cram school, Sakuta is approached by one of his students, Juri Yoshiwa (Yuuki Yamaoto), for some romantic advice. As Sakuta has assumed, Yoshiwa has a crush on another one of his students, Kento Yamada (Yūya Hirose), who currently has a crush on Sara. I haven’t really talked about Yoshiwa and Yamada until now (and to be honest, I’m only bringing them up so that I don’t forget to do so before I finish this season). These two have proven to be pretty minor characters. Still, it has been watching Yoshiwa get annoyed with Yamada’s stupidity and I enjoy their chemistries with Sakuta and Sara. I kind of do hope Yoshiwa will work up the courage to confess to Yamada. That’d be a nice outcome after Yoshiwa found herself competing against Sara for Yamada’s heart.
After giving Yoshiwa a rather naughty idea on how to get Yamada’s attention (which isn’t surprising, given this is Sakuta we’re talking about), Sakuta is greeted by Sara, who apologizes for her lashing out last class. The two then have another chat at the local cafe. Sara asks Sakuta why he applied for Yokohama City University and Sakuta admits that aside from simply wanting to be in the same college as Mai, he has considered getting a teaching license. It’s something that Sakuta hasn’t told anyone, not even Mai. I’d argue a counselor would be a more fitting job for Sakuta than a classroom teacher but his interest does makes sense given that he’s currently working at a cram school.
Since Sakuta still hasn’t figured it out, Sara decides to reveal the exact nature of her Puberty Syndrome. In her case, she has clairvoyance, able to read the minds and see form the perspectives of anyone she has made physical contact with. Sara has more or less been using this ability to charm her into a lot of men’s hearts, hence her popularity as of late. The one stipulation to this ability is that it’ll only work if the physical contact Sara makes is a “strong collision” of sorts, such as bumping into someone’s head. This of course means that her bumping into Sakuta’s head a couple of episodes ago has allowed her to know what Sakuta has been up to, namely his investigation on Touko Kirishima. Sara therefore offers to make contact with Touko and read her mind during the latter’s Christmas Eve livestream. Considering that this would end up making Sakuta and Sara’s Christmas Eve date come true, it’s hard not to think Sara has an ulterior motive here. But with no more leads on Touko, Sakuta has no choice but to accept Sara’s help.
At home, Sakuta realizes that due to quantum entanglement, Sara’s Puberty Syndrome also works in reverse and he can actually peer into his student’s mind. It’s maybe questionable as to whether or not Sakuta should be doing this but I suppose it’s fair game since who knows how often Sara used her ability on him. This first time Sakuta uses the clairvoyance is more just a test of whether or not he could do it. The ability comes more into play in the next scene.
Sakuta of course informs Mai of the change of plans though to his and Sara’s surprise, Mai meets up with them and offers to drive them to Kamakura. This of course means that Sara and Sakuta’s dream of a Christmas Eve date is thrown out the window. Funnily enough, this is not the first time Mai changes the future. Mai explains that over at Kamakura, they can buy Touko’s favorite desert, Mont Blanc, which would be perfect for leaving her open for Sara to make contact with her. Really though, Mai’s motivation is probably a little more selfish. Mai has been very accepting with her and Sakuta’s plans constantly changing. Case in point, she was okay with Sakuta spending part of her birthday meeting up with Touko. Still, it would not surprise me if she has some limits. Considering it’s Christmas Eve and Sara is so blatantly smitten with Sakuta, I can understand Mai feeling less accommodating than usual.
Really though, Mai’s appearance is a brilliant way to resolve Sara’s arc. It quickly becomes apparent to Sara that Sakuta and Mai are a legit couple and she has no chance at winning Sakuta over. Just on the car ride to Kamakura, she sees how Sakuta opens up around Mai and how well Mai knows Sakuta without needing something fancy like reading his mind. Things escalate when Sara attempts to confront Mai directly about her feelings towards Sakuta (which Sakuta is able to witness via clairvoyance). I love that all Mai does is explain what she loves about Sakuta, like how he’s so kind and slefless or how he simply makes her happy. You know, stuff that people usually look for in a romantic partner. And yet, Sara doesn’t understand at it all and it’s so much of a shock that she finally realizes that she truly doesn’t know what it means to be in love. How very fitting then that Sara loses her clairvoyance soon after. It makes perfect sense. The ability has proven to be of no use now that she’s actually interested in someone and it has failed to give her insight she wants. It’s only natural that she’d ultimately rejects her Puberty Syndrome.
Sara runs off but Sakuta is able to deduce from her original plans for the date that she’s at a bamboo forest she wanted to go with him. It’s a really nice scene that highlights Sakuta’s best qualities. Like, Sara understandably expects Sakuta to be mad at her and Sakuta does have the right to do so but he also knows what Sara is going through and he recognizes that she’s grown up. It’s more befitting of his character to forgive her instead. I also love that even though Sara can no longer help Sakuta with his plan, Sakuta is more relieved that his student is no longer affected by Puberty Syndrome and he doesn’t have to resort to using her for his own gain. It goes to show how selfless Sakuta is, even if he wouldn’t necessarily admit it.
Mai drives Sakuta and Sara to the university, just in case Sakuta can still meet up with Touko during live stream. They unfortunately arrive too late and it becomes apparent that while Sara could only see Touko when peering into Sakuta’s mind, Touko is otherwise still invisible. Even if Sara still had her clairvoyance, she wouldn’t be able to make contact with the elusive Santa anyway so it’s ultimately and fortunately not a big deal that Sara can’t use her ability anymore. Curiously, Touko gets angry when Sakuta brings up her actual identity as Nene. In hindsight, there must have be a reason why Nene created her alias in the first place.
After dropping Sara off at her home, Mai and Sakuta finally get to enjoy their Christmas date. Things appear to be going smoothly though this scene and the episode overall ends on a somewhat ominous note where Sakuta has another #dream. I suppose that’s par for the course but I can see it being related to Touko’s livestream and her new song. It kind of has to be related to Touko anyway since there’s only three episodes left in the season and the show has to finally get to its titular “Santa Claus” arc.
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