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Conventions, conventions everywhere! Or as my sister likes to say, "mucho queso!" ("Too much cheese!")
This episode was pretty much everything that a romantic comedy finale would be, except that with Sakurasou, this is the second finale-like episode so far, with a second cour imminent.
I was right in thinking that Mashiro wasn't going to make good on her innuendo last week, but the scene with her sleeping next to Sorata on the floor did help Sorata set his teeth about what he hoped to do during the Cultural Festival. Clearly Mashiro has had feelings for Sorata for a while now, even is she herself hadn't quite hit on what they were, but it's somewhat less sure that Sorata likes Mashiro back romantically. She's an important and inspiring presence to him, yes, and he does play into her innuendos far too easily, but the words that came out of his mouth during Nyaboron weren't romantic ones at all, but rather a sincere thank you for helping him find his goal.
Speaking of Nyaboron, the convenience continues as the game succeeds spectacularly, captivating its audience with its inherent cheesiness and Nanami's catgirl cosplay ("Now this is what a real cat-girl should look like"). I know that the Sakurasou residents are all supposed to be geniuses, but getting a hit on the first try is still too unlikely. At least it was ridiculous enough that we could accept high school students had made it, and it wasn't flawless either.
For one thing, Sorata was too naive, thinking that high school kids would jump right into his "shout your love" mechanic without any reservations. Even for Nyaboron, that's asking quite a lot from the audience, especially from one made up of self-conscious teenagers. To be honest, I don't think I would have shouted a thing until I saw other people doing it, and even then it would have been embarrassing regardless. It's a good thing Mashiro thinks quickly, and for the first time in the entire series we hear a voice from her that isn't deadpan as she screams "arigatou" ("thank you") into the awkward silence. Of course that gives everyone the courage they were lacking before, and Nyaboron ends in success anyway. Coincidentally, Kazuki Fujisawa happens to be watching the game, and he's fairly impressed by the presentation, but, honestly, of more interest is his relationship to Chihiro-sensei, whom he probably went to school with. He asks her if he's allowed to visit Sakurasou, and she immediately shoots him down; perhaps these two had a past together? If so that places Sorata one step closer to realizing his dream, because Fujisawa is definitely a contact he would want to have as an aspiring game designer, and he's not as far from Sorata's grasp as he would seem.
With Nyaboron finally out of the way, Sorata lets himself regress back into the hesitation about Mashiro leaving, and it takes a confrontation with Nanami (who selflessly puts her feelings aside to push him in the right direction) to convince him he hadn't quite expressed his true feelings yet and to run after her.
It seems to me like this is really the point where Sorata gets an indication that what he's feeling for Mashiro is love after all, though he has yet to admit it to himself. He and the rest of Sakurasou chase her and Rita to the airport, where he embarrasses himself in public by crying on Mashiro's shoulder and begging her not to leave, only to realize that Rita has been trolling him all along; she's given up on getting Mashiro back to England because she feels that Mashiro has found her place in Sakurasou after all. Rita herself departs after scoring a kiss from Ryuunosuke and Sorata's email address, and it's as her plane is flying out that Mashiro realizes something. Sorata may not have confessed to her, but his desperate ploy to get her to stay has made her realize that she's in love herself, and it will be up the second cour to see if Sorata is prepared to accept her confession or not.
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