It’s the New Year, but sadly Kiyoka’s ‘promised break’ didn’t even last a day when he’s forced to go back to work due to the increase of Gift Communion activities. The organization been going around towns, showcasing Grotesqueries” to the public, who have been blissfully unaware of their existence up till now. And on top of that, they are promoting the idea to encourage people to join their cause, to be bestowed powers of the “Gift” to defend themselves from these creatures. By doing so, they are actively pitting the public against both the military and those in power, and there’s fears that a civil war may break out.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, they now suspect it appears someone within the heart of the empire working alongside the Gifted Communion, as they are the ones who has access to intel and connections of which an average person does not have. As such, since the situation has gotten more dire, Kiyoka has been assigned to protect Prince Takaihito, but Miyo can’t be left on her own, so she’s been invited along and will be guarded by Arata from within the Imperial Palace.
With their wedding date approaching, we’re starting to see Miyo and Kiyoka get more intimate with each other. We saw them have their second kiss– which was SUCH A FREAKING TEASE TO SHOW IT WITH THEIR SHADOWS– though I completely understand why they went about it that way haha. We got some good doses of cute and wholesome moments between our lovebirds, my favourite is Kiyoka being a shy and blushy around Miyo, telling her about his earnest wishes to stay together forever. It’s the cutest thing ever!!!! We also saw Miyo being all flustered about the fact they’ve now kissed twice, and she doesn’t know how the heck Kiyoka manages to act so aloof about it afterwards. Poor girl is wondering if she’s just indecent or something just by thinking about it so much!
But Kiyoka isn’t as ‘aloof’ as Miyo believes him to be. We’re also seeing Kiyoka face his own struggle of impatience. He knows very well that Miyo needs time to sort it out (as she pointed out in her prayer, she’s afraid because it’s new to her), but we’re see there’s also a part of him itching for some reassurance that she truly loves him the same way he loves her, as opposed to something akin to gratitude or obligation (both of which, were on Miyo’s mind when they first met). And this is especially important to him since started to be more intimate with each other. That’s why he kinda ran out the door after he realized he was putting Miyo on the spot when he asked her to tell him how she feels about him.
On the more serious note, we’re starting to see Miyo becoming more restless with the fact she’s struggling so much with her powers. Both Arata and Kiyoka made a point that it may be related to her psyche that’s preventing her from fully awakening her powers. And that would make sense, since Miyo’s been forced to bottle up her feelings for so long, that it’s become a blockage of a sort because she’s, as we know is still holding back on a lot of things. On that note: Interestingly she encountered an abnormality in her dreams, where the subject (Usui) she was witnessing a shared memory of, locked eyes with Miyo, seemingly an indication that he sensed her trespassing his cherished memories.
And whiel on the subject of the memory: Miyo had yet another dream of Usui’s and Sumi’s past. This time the two of them talking around the time the Emperor was messing with their Usuba family’s business. It’s an understatement to say Sumi and Usui had very special bond. Sumi described herself as a sheath to temper and control Usui’s violent tendency as a sword, who in turn vowed to protect her no matter what. Regardless how unhinged the guy is, there’s no question that he had strong feelings for Sumi.
In the meantime, Arata’s in a pickle. He’s doing his best to hide it from the others- and especially Miyo, but we can see he’s deeply unsettled since his last conversation with Usui. Since he’s the one responsible for guarding Miyo, Kiyoka made a point to him that he doesn’t expect Arata to be able to capture him, and left him with the unspoken directive and permission to kill Usui.
With that said, I’m happy to say this was another solid episode. It looks like they can finally afford to slow down now, which is a good thing! If they can nail the rest of this, then they might be able to make up for their speed-run approach to the first half of the arc.
