360° Material [Chapter 7]

Summarized by: Sarah

Chapter 7: Dream Come True Loop
The chapter starts with Shii-chan pointing out again that she was surprised to see Mio go so far as to jump onto the train tracks to retrieve Akane's charm. Mio tells her that she was worried that it would throw Akane off to lose it right before the exam, and Shii concedes that it might and comments that Akane is pretty smart so it wouldn't of been a problem. At that point, their train arrives and ends the conversation, and Mio is thinking that there was more to why she was so anxious to rescue the charm. When Akane was willing to just abandon it, it seemed sad. Mio recalls how she felt watching Taki with Miwa, and thinks that she felt like she could also be abandoned suddenly, just like that charm. However, she couldn't exactly tell Shii-chan something as pathetic as that she felt sympathy for Akane's charm. The scene switches to Akane returning home from her test. Taki is waiting and welcomes her back. He asks her how she thinks it went, and she answers that she thinks she was just about perfect. She also tells Taki that she heard he had covered for her at work, and thanks him. Remembering what Mio did for her that morning, she starts to say, “Nao, today...” then trails off, just telling him that she's exhausted. She excuses herself, thinking that it's not necessary to tell him what happened. Looking through her phone messages, she notices that on top of what she did that morning, Mio sent her two more encouraging messages. Over break, too – Nao was there helping her study, and they weren't able to see each other. For Christmas, too, of course. Is that girl an idiot? But, Akane thinks, looking at the picture of Taki and Miwa, if Mio is that sort of idiot, then maybe that means she won't do anything that could hurt Nao...

The next day at school, Mio is in math class, trying to get the problems on the board copied into her notes. The girl on duty comes in to erase the board, and Mio stops her, saying that she'll take care of it. She let her mind wander during class... Mio recalls the teacher telling her (a bit too eagerly) that if she fails the end of the year test, she'll end up repeating. (Meanwhile, Marui slept through class; he is a masochist.) Mio finds that the writing at the top of the board is higher than she can reach, and Taki suddenly appears, asking her to let him do it. Mio's heart thumps as she thinks about how close he is. She thanks him, and wonders if he was paying attention to how she was during class. He explains to her that the first question on the board uses the standard formula, and the two of them go over some similar problems. Mio thinks that, when he explains things to her, he makes it seem like fun. It reminds her of how he helped her at the end of the last term, and some other people came over to join them as they go over the lesson. Mio is still thinking about that time, and how she didn't think her feelings would develop so rapidly, but... The chapter then skips forward to Mio and Taki leaving together, and Mio is surprised when Taki breaks their plan to leave together. She asks him if there's somewhere he needs to go, and he initially says yes. Then, looking away nervously, he says, “Well, not really...” Mio is a bit confused, but says good bye and goes ahead to the train. Though she didn't think she'd develop such strong feelings... forcing a smile, Mio thinks that she's hanging in there. But then, she hears voices, and turns to see a couple who looks like Taki and Miwa. She almost has a panic attack before realizing that it's a different couple. Trying to relax, she thinks that it's no good; she feels like she's in a loop again. Later, we see Mio walking, when she hears Taki call her name. Smiling, she asks him what he's doing there, and he says he was waiting. Mio then asks, "Waiting for what?" He tells her that he's sorry, but he thinks that he wants to get back together with Miwa. Mio is frozen in shock, and Taki explains that Miwa says that she feels the same way. Mio says, “That can't be...” and Miwa arrives, telling her it's true. As Miwa takes Taki by the arm, Mio asks Miwa what's she doing there, and she tells Mio not to worry about the little details. Anyhow, that's the way things are and apologizes. They leave together, smiling, as Mio repeats that this can't be... and then falls out of bed. Waking up on her floor, Mio realizes that it was all a nightmare. (To clarify, everything after Mio saw those two people who looked like Taki and Miwa is a dream.)

Mio arrives to school late, thinking how that dream couldn't have meant anything good. Somehow, it felt strangely real. Then, she hears Taki saying her name, and he greets her with a smile. Stammering, she tells him good morning, and he points out she's a little late. She explains that she sort of missed her usual train... ans asks why Taki is here. He nervously responds, “I was waiting...” and Mio flashes back to her dream. This is way too much like that... Taki begins to say, “Sorry, I...” and Mio cuts him off, explaining that she thinks she'll be called on in English today, so she has to work on it... she'll be busy until lunch, so, later! She rushes off, thinking that it's like her dream coming true. But, that can't be; it's not like she's a psychic or something. Was he really going to say that? It was just similar, right? Trying to reassure herself that it's all right, Mio spends all of the breaks pretending to study. Shii-chan asks her what she's doing today, and she says that she expects she'll be called on. Yuni points out that it's not the usual order in which people get called on, but Mio just says that she feels like she will. Noting that, since this morning, Taki has been casting nervous looks her way, Mio thinks she needs to seem busy. He must be anxious to finish their conversation. Remembering what he started to say, Mio puts down her book and announces she's going to the washroom. Relaxing a little there, Mio thinks that it's the first time she's felt any relief today. She considers that it might be something good he wants to say... and wonders why she ran away. If that was only a dream, then it has nothing to do with this; if the situation is changed, then the dream would be invalidated. Right! Why didn't she realize that? Having psyched herself up to face Taki, Mio heads back into the hall, where she sees Taki talking to Shii-chan. It looks serious, and Shii leaves looking concerned. She's surprised to see Mio, who asks her what happened. She dodges the question, saying that it wasn't anything, then hurries Mio to lunch when she tries to ask anything more. We see Shii drinking some sort of zero-calorie beverage, and Yuni asks her if she's lost any weight. She tells her that, when she weighed herself this morning, she was down 1 kg. Meanwhile, Mio wonders if Taki-kun has come to the cafeteria yet. Like she thought, something is strange. She flashes back to her dream, then tells herself to stop remembering that! It was just a dream; but, Taki saying, “Sorry, I-...” wasn't a dream. At that, Taki comes up behind her and asks if it's a good time. Panicking again, Mio sees Marui coming into the room, and she exclaims that he's good at English, right!? He wouldn't say he's good at it... Mio grabs him, saying that she was hoping he'd look at her translation, so she'll listen to Taki after that! Once they separate, Marui asks what he's supposed to be looking at, and Mio shows him her notebook. He starts to read the wrong thing (apparently, some embarrassing musings), and she stops him... She was doing some free writing. She directs him to the correct page, and he starts to read, then asks, “So, are you two fighting or something?” She tells him it's not that, but... she's pretty sure she doesn't want to hear what he wants to tell her, so she keeps avoiding him. She doesn't want to hear it? Mio suggests that it might be a break-up speech or something. Marui is surprised, and Mio quickly tells him that was just an example! She isn't confident, but... Marui looks over his shoulder and sees Taki glaring at him, then turns back and asks Mio to give him her ear. She leans in and he grins, telling her that, in a moment, Taki will probably come over. As Mio starts to say, “What are you talking...” she looks up and sees Taki standing there. Looking a little mad, he asks if they're finished. Marui smiles brightly and says that they are. Taki grabs Mio's hand and pulls her away, as she tells him she wants to go over her work just a little bit more... (Marui leans back, wondering what those two are doing, and Shii-chan looks on anxiously.)

Once they're alone in the stairwell, Mio mentally curses Marui for being an idiot, then forces a smile. She tells Taki that she's sorry, it seems like there's something he's wanted to say since this morning, but she's been slow... Taki turns away with a slight blush, and Mio's smile falls away. She thinks that she needs to hear the reason. She tells him, to be honest, she was thinking he had bad news, and she didn't want to hear it. Taki looks a little surprised; she thought it was something bad? Looking a little hopeful, Mio asks, “It... isn't?” Well, it isn't really that he wants to talk. At that, he hands her a gift bag, and tells her happy birthday. Confused, Mio thinks that her birthday was a long time ago, so why...? Looking down shyly, Taki explains that he didn't know until he heard Shimizu-san talking about it in the cafeteria the other day. It flashes back to Chapter 6, then shows Taki asking Shii-chan about Mio's birthday. Why didn't Mio tell him? Mio explains that, from Akane's email, she thought that he would be busy over the whole break studying with her. Mio thinks that, since a long time ago, she's always spent that time with friends or on some sort of family trip, so maybe she just gave up on it out of habit. Taki apologizes for being so late on this, and Mio tells him that if anything, she should apologize for not telling him and says it was all a misunderstanding. Mio then asks if she can open her present. He tells her yes, and inside she finds a bunch of the little desserts they were looking at before Miwa interrupted them in the last chapter. Blushing again, Taki explains that he didn't know which ones to get her, so just in case... Looking at how many there are, Mio asks if he got her two of every kind. He tells her he did, and she exclaims that's way too many! But, she thinks, she's really happy... She says thank you, and he tells her he's glad. Lately, he's been wondering what would be best, and he hesitated when he was picking them out yesterday. Mio realizes that was why he left her at the train station yesterday. Taki explains that he's glad he's been seeing her so much, but the present had to be a secret, so he needed to shop by himself... Mio tells him that it's all right, and thinks back to the things she'd been worrying over the past couple of days. Hiding her face, she starts to laugh. Taki asks her what's wrong, and she smiles brightly telling him thank you; this made her really, really, really happy! Taki smiles back, and Mio starts to look through the bag, finding a letter. Taki tells her Akane put that in there, and Mio sees that it says it's for her to read alone. She tells Taki to go back to class ahead of her, and she opens the letter. Inside, she finds Akane's charm, and a note that explains if she opens the charm, she'll find a clover that Nao picked for Akane a long time ago. She doesn't need it anymore, so she's giving it to Ootaka-san. Please use it during her next exam. Mio opens it and looks at the clover. (Mio doesn't want to think about her next exam yet, though!) Mio thinks that, in just these few lines Akane wrote, in these tiny characters, she seems a little reluctant to let it go. And just like that, it makes Mio feel even happier. The chapter ends with Mio running up to catch Taki on the way back to class, and him asking her why she's laughing.

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