KanoHito Chapter 6

## Chapter 6

**"Sumi and Tears"** (墨と涙, *Sumi to namida*?) is the sixth chapter of the *Kanojo, Hitomishirimasu* manga series.

## Summary

At the Diamond agency office, Sumi is being reviewed by her manager. He explains that while Sumi is making effort, her overall customer reviews are still unsatisfactory and she needs to produce results. Later on as she's having a snack, Sumi becomes hard on herself for being unable to voice her thanks. However, she remembers the advice Chizuru has been giving her, and is reminded of her inspiration to be an idol. She puts a lot of thought and effort into her next date. Once the date arrives, she performs all of her tasks well and even manages to squeeze out somewhat of an answer to her favorite food. She also manages to laugh and grasp her customer's hand. Unfortunately, as she was counting her small victories, the review from the customer came back negative. Sumi goes over to the riverside by her lonesome and cries. Just then, she receives a sudden call by Chizuru, who wants to introduce her to a practice date.

Sumi agrees to Chizuru's offer of a practice date with her client. That night, Sumi worries about how she's going to prepare herself for the date to the point that she falls asleep. She wakes up suddenly the next morning, frantically prepares and heads out in a hurry for her practice date, though it appears she had actually arrived early. She notices three different men waiting in the area where she's expecting to meet her practice date, Kazuya. As she goes over and over in her head on who it might be, an alarm goes off on one of the men's phone. Thinking it was an alarm for the date, Sumi rushes up to him and asks if he's Kazuya, to which the man replies in confusion. Horribly embarrassed, Sumi apologizes and runs for cover, beating herself up for the misunderstanding. As she waits longer, one of the other men is met up with another person, which narrows who Kazuya is to the last person still waiting. As her eyes meet Kazuya's, she shrinks and hides behind the pillar again, much to Kazuya's bewilderment. However, remembering her bad review and the words of encouragement from Chizuru, she musters the courage to run up to him and get introduced.

Sumi attempts to introduce herself, but is too nervous to voice it out. Kazuya asks a brief question, then takes the lead on the date. Sumi is flustered and disappointed in herself for not taking the lead herself, but Kazuya calmly reassures her and simply tells her to shadow him. As the two are bowling, Sumi laments that she has no experience since she normally avoids populated areas like this. Once it's her turn on the lane, Sumi throws the bowling ball, but unfortunately her finger is stuck and she falls flat on her face upon release. Kazuya asks if she's okay and lets her know he's going to get them both something to drink. As she contemplates about her date going wrong, a group of misfits surround and harass her. At this moment, Kazuya arrives and pulls Sumi away, and the misfits holler disparaging remarks at him. Sumi apologizes for what those men said about Kazuya, which he casually brushes off. As they make their way out, Sumi grasps his hand and gives him a warm smile. While Kazuya is in the bathroom, Sumi remarks to herself at how natural that felt and hopes she didn't startle him. Before she realizes it, an attractive female stranger comes over and asks if the seat is taken.

Sumi internally panics at the thought of the stranger wanting to sit with her when there are plenty of available seats in the area. As the stranger sits down, she goes over in her head on whether or not this would be normal social behavior. As she notices the woman's appearance, she wonders if she's seen her before, but could not recall any memory of her. The stranger introduces herself as Mami and a friend of Kazuya's. As Sumi struggles to find the words to say, Kazuya returns from the bathroom and is immediately flustered at seeing Mami here. Sumi interprets this as Kazuya having trouble introducing her as a girlfriend, so she embarrassingly hugs on to Kazuya's arm as a display of affection. When the response is silence, Sumi worries internally that she didn't get her message across, so she then holds on to Kazuya's hand. Mami asks politely if Sumi could allow her to talk to Kazuya privately, to which Kazuya nervously agrees to. Feeling dejected, Sumi laments in the bathroom about failing to read the air and causing trouble for her date, and considers quitting her profession. At the end of the date, she wants to apologize and thank Kazuya, to which he responds that even though she didn't talk much, she earnestly tried to make sure he had a good time and reassures her that she's a good fit for this job. Encouraged by his words, Sumi finally voices out a farewell to Kazuya and has newfound inspiration to reach her goals.

## Characters

* Sumi Sakurasawa
* Chizuru Ichinose
* Kazuya Kinoshita (Mentioned)