Episode 3

## Broken Up, and Not Rekindled.

* Episode
* Title Card

## Episode Chronology

****"Broken Up, and Not Rekindled."**** (破局以上、復縁未満。, *Hakyoku Ijō, Fukuen Miman.*?) is the third episode of the More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers anime series.

## Short Summary

With Jirō's help, Akari prepares a bento for Minami and plans to deliver it to him personally as a way of getting closer to him. Before she can leave, she unexpectedly asks Jirō to give her a goodbye kiss like last time. Confused and flustered, Jirō questions to her if she is being genuine to which she confirms. Shiori interrupts them with an unannounced visit to give them some leftover apple pies she had made for Minami. After learning from Shiori that Minami enjoys sweet foods, Akari abandons her plan to deliver him the bento because she thought that Minami would dislike sweet foods and excluded them from her bento. Akari falls into a depression after she realizes that she knows nothing about Minami. Out of insecurity and the need for self-validation, Akari attempts to seduce Jirō, but he stops her on the excuse that she has Minami. Feeling defeated and broken, Akari tells Jirō that they should stop acting like a married couple.

Akari's and Jirō's score on the practical drops to E-Rank after they completely stopped interacting with each other while Shiori's and Minami's score improved to A-Rank. A disappointed Shiori learns from Jirō that he and Akari got into some kind of fight. Shiori eventually convinces him to make amends with his practice wife. Wanting things to go back to normal, Jirō gives a long speech to Akari on how he enjoys doing activities with her and that he felt that he needed to protect her, which was why he refused her advances as he didn't want her to regret her actions later on. He then apologizes to her and asks her to be his wife again. Touched by this, Akari accepts Jirō's apology, calls him by his first name for the first time, and admits that she likes him. With everything going back to normal, Jirō is relieved. Meanwhile, Akari is shocked that she admitted that she liked Jirō.

## Plot

### Prelude

Akari and Jirō are sitting at the dinner table where the latter is given a meal to eat. Akari asks Jirō what girls should do to make themselves more appealing to guys. Jirō initially refused to answer, but when threatened by Akari to have his main course taken away and be forced to only eat rice, he relents by saying that guys like it when they are given bento (boxed lunch) that is prepared by the girl. Akari comments that bento just might work and that Jirō will assist her.

### Act 1

Using Jirō as reference, Akari prepares a variety of dishes for him to pick between so that she can prepare a bento to Minami's liking. When tasting the rolled omelette, Jirō notes that he preferred it to be sweet but Akari retorts that his preferences do not matter and that Minami does not look like a person who would enjoy sweet foods.

The following day, Jirō and Sadaharu are eating lunch together on the school-grounds. A jealous Sadaharu notices the bento that Jirō was eating was made by Akari. Sadaharu then switches the conversation to Jirō's love life and asks him if he had finally lost his virginity to Akari. Jirō denies that anything had happened between them and asks Sadaharu to drop the topic since it would make things weird between himself and Akari when he gets back home. Akari suddenly appears in front of them, having overheard her name. She asks Jirō how the food tasted to which he responds by saying that it was good. When Akari asks for a more detailed review, Jirō once again says that he would have preferred to have the rolled omelette taste sweeter. Akari repeats that his preferences do not matter when it comes to Minami which causes the two two to engage in a minor squabble while Sadaharu patiently looks on with a smile.

The following morning, Akari is in the kitchen cooking food for Minami's bento which she plans to bring to him while he is at his place of work. She offers to feed Jirō a piece of the rolled omelette after hearing his stomach growl. Jirō accepts the offer and eats the omelette, once again noting that the omelette was not sweet. After Akari finishes preparing and wrapping the bento, she changes into a revealing outfit that she believed would impress Minami. Jirō silently questions why she spent so much time and effort on her clothes just to deliver one lunch.

Before leaving, Akari says to Jirō that she will do her best before opening her arms out towards him and nervously asking him to wish her goodbye like how he did last time. Jirō is surprised to realize that she subtly hinted at him to kiss her goodbye but is unsure if she was being serious. When he says that he shouldn't do it because she is going to see Minami. Akari insisted on it, saying that he promised to cheer her on and that the gesture made her feel safe that other time. Now knowing that Akari was being sincere, Jirō slowly makes a move towards her but they are interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Jirō answers the door to find Shiori, who decided to visit unannounced to give the pair some leftover apple pies she had baked. The pair learn that the pies were requested by Minami because he liked sweet foods. This information made Akari realize that what she thought she knew about Minami's preferences was completely wrong. As Shiori leaves, Akari feels discouraged and abandons her plan to deliver the bento to Minami.

Later in the afternoon, Akari allowed Jirō to eat Minami's bento while she sulks on the couch. Jirō tries to cheer up Akari by complimenting her on her personality and saying that many guys find her attractive. When Akari asks him what makes the guys so attracted to her, he struggles to answer without making it seem that they are only attracted to her because of her sex appeal. She then asks Jirō if he ever thought about having sex with her to which he responds that he never thought about it, albeit unconvincingly. Akari sees past his lie and suddenly straddles him, asking him how many times he thought about it. She seductively tells Jirō that she will grant him his wish, takes his hand and guides it to begin stripping her of her top. Feeling uneasy over what is happening, Jirō forcefully stops Akari from seducing him further, saying that they can't do it because this was something that she should do with a person she loves. He mentions to her that she has Minami but this also reminds Akari that Jirō still has feelings for Shiori. Unfortunately, Jirō's words cause Akari to reach a breaking point and she calmly tells him that they should stop acting like a married couple from now on.

### Act 2

After this incident, the once productive and engaging married life that Jirō and Akari had built together completely collapsed. The two began acting distant towards each other; no longer interacting or seeing each other at home but rather staying in their respective bedrooms. While Akari's social life outside of the dorm remains positive, Jirō is bothered by the negative shift in atmosphere at home. As time passed, the couple's score on the marriage practical got worse and worse due to lack of communication until it eventually hit 0. At the end of the month evaluation, the scores were publicly posted with Minami and Shiori improving to Rank-A while Jirō and Akari dropped to Rank-E. Shiori, who is present at the postings, is saddened over Jiro's placement.

At school, Sadaharu angrily confronts Jirō over his placement, asking him if something happened between him and Akari. Once again, Jirō refuses to divulge to him any information regarding the circumstances between Akari and himself. Jirō then thinks back to the incident with Akari, noting that while she was seducing him, she was trembling and her hands were cold to touch. He concluded that her actions were done not out of genuine affection but rather out of nervousness and uncertainty. Shiori spots Jirō and asks him if they could talk together in private.

Shiori brings Jirō to the school's rooftop and asks him if something happened between him and Akari. Jirō confirms to her that they indeed had some sort of fight and that he did not have time yet to apologize to her since he believed that she didn't want to talk to him. Shiori responds by saying that he and Akari spend more time together than with anyone else and that she would understand him should he attempt to seek forgiveness from her. Shiori's encouragement finally drives Jirō to take action and attempt to make amends with his partner.

Jirō returns home to find unheated dinner left out by Akari, who is sheltered in her bedroom. Jirō knocks on her door and asks her if they can talk. Akari stoically allows him to enter her bedroom but shows disinterest in what he has to say as she lies down on her bed and uses her phone. Jirō apologizes to her, saying it was all his fault for the incident, but Akari says that he did nothing wrong; instead retorting that she was the one that tried too hard which eventually got them nowhere. Jirō admits to Akari that he did indeed fantasize about her despite denying it previously, but this only causes her to scold him out of embarrassment. He explains to her that he does not know why he stopped her but he felt that he needed to because deep down he wanted to take proper care of her and allowing it to happen in the heat of the moment made him feel uneasy. He confesses that he dislikes how things became awkward between them and wishes that the two of them can talk and eat together like how they used to before. Jirō finally "proposes" to her, asking if they can be a married couple again.

To Jiro's confusion, Akari begins to laugh hysterically at his "proposal", remarking on how desperate it sounded. Jirō reminds her that this whole thing happened was because she told him that they should stop being a married couple but Akari says that they can't just stop, since it was important for school. This angers Jirō, who accuses her of lying, but Akari states that she did not technically lie about not wanting to act like a couple because it was more so on how she felt after the incident. Akari then grabs Jirō's hands and places them around her face, saying that she is beginning to like being in this married life more than she thought. She admits to him that she likes him and at this moment, Akari called Jirō by his first name for the first time since they were partnered together. As a final act of reconciliation, Akari playfully tricks Jirō into kissing his own hands before welcoming him back as her practice husband. Jirō responds by saying it is good to be back, now relieved that things are going back to normal.

After their conversation, Akari heads out to the balcony and reflects on the moment she admitted to liking Jirō.

### Post-Credits

In a scene which is done in the style of moving manga panels, Akari is fretting over a rolled omelet that was somehow burnt. She finds out that Jirō had secretly added sugar to it because he thought it would taste better. Angered by this, Akari forces him to eat the ruined omelet as punishment. A nervous Jirō takes a bite out of it and upon learning that it tasted bitter, he apologizes.

## Characters In Order Of Appearance

* Akari Watanabe
* Jirō Yakuin
* Sadaharu Kamo
* Shiori Sakurazaka
* Sachi Takamiya *(Unnamed, No Lines)*
* Natsumi Ōhashi (*No Lines)*
* Minami Tenjin

## Anime & Manga Differences

* The scene at the dinner table where Akari questions Jirō about the preferences of guys is exclusive to the anime.
* In the anime, Jirō and Sadaharu are eating lunch while sitting on a bench outside. In the manga, they are eating lunch while sitting in a classroom.
* Unlike the anime, Jirō does not eat Minami's bento in the manga.
* The anime expands on the aftermath of Jirō and Akari's "breakup." Akari is shown happily hanging out with Sachi and Natsumi (who do not appear in the manga) while Jirō is shown alone playing video games in his room and on the school's staircase. At the same time, their score displayed in their living room gradually falls between each scene as the two no longer interact with each other.

## Trivia

* The manga panels used in the post-credit scene are the same ones from Chapter 5.