Episode 16

**With the Changing Seasons, a Genius Experiences the Sorrow of [X]** ( 天才は変遷する季節と［ｘ］模様に憂う, *Tensai wa hensen suru kisetsu to [X] moyō ni ureu*?) is the sixteenth episode of the *We Never Learn* anime series.

## Synopsis

Observing herself in the mirror, Rizu notices that her bangs have become far too long. Rizu then tries to cut her bangs, but her dad interrupts her and cuts them too short.

The next day, on their way to school, Fumino and Uruka run into Rizu and immediately notice that her bangs are gone. Although Rizu claims that her new appearance, doesn't bother her, that is until Nariyuki appears. The now self-conscious Rizu leaves the scene in a hurry. At the Ichinose Academy girl's bathroom, Rizu checks herself out in the mirror and is soon joined by Sawako. Although Sawako wanted to show off her new appearance, she's captivated by Rizu's new appearance. On the other hand, Rizu takes Sawada's surprise as a negative reaction.

Later that day in the library, the gang study there, and to hide her lack of bangs, Rizu wears a conspicuous mask. Nariyuki figures that it was because he saw her nude at the bath that one time, but Fumino knows better. She then takes off Rizu's mask to show Nariyuki the truth behind Rizu's demureness, but he doesn't notice any change to her. This exasperates both Fumino and Uruka who then have Nariyuki take a closer look at Rizu. Still, however, he fails to notice what's new about Rizu.

That afternoon, Nariyuki and Rizu walk home together. Nariyuki is given a 2nd chance to guess what's new about Rizu after calling her by her given name. He gives a couple more guesses and one of them is that she wears more expressions as she used to be a "sullen" person. Though not the correct response, she claims it is. At her home, Rizu is noted by her dad to be in a better mood, but still, she doesn't forgive him.

Noticing that Rizu's pen case is looking pretty worn out, Sawada offers to go shopping with her and buy a new case. Astonishingly, Rizu agrees to the offer, and the following day they go shopping together. Unbeknownst to Rizu, Sawada spent the entire night drafting an itinerary for them to go to various popular date spots. The sequential order of the itinerary, however, is broken due to the appearance of Nariyuki. Knowing full well that Rizu would have a better time shopping with Nariyuki, Sawada allows the two to enjoy the rest of the day together. Now alone, Sawada reminisces on her middle school days. In those days, whenever she scored perfect marks in science, she never was given any recognition for them. Another classmate who was a baseball player was always praised, however, due to his baseball talent. Although Sawada constantly felt self-conscious about her genius-level talent in science. It wasn't until meeting Rizu in a prep-school that she came to admire her. This also inspires Sawada to attend the same high school as Rizu. However, it wasn't until her 3rd year in Highschool that she got the gall to talk with her.

Once the flashback is over, Nariyuki confronts Sawada and they talk with each other. During their conversation, Sawada confesses that she admires Rizu a lot and the person in question hears it. Although she's initially happy to hear that Sawada admires her, Nariyuki causes her to fall on top of Rizu and grope her chest.