Episode 7

## Fireworks, but No Embrace.

* Episode
* Title Card

## Episode Chronology

****"Fireworks, but No Embrace."**** (花火以上、抱擁未満。, *Hanabi Ijō, Hōyō Miman.*?) is the seventh episode of the More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers anime series.

## Short Summary

After seeing Jirō's and Shiori's awkward interactions at school, Sachi and Natsumi asks Akari about her marriage practical with Jirō. Akari expresses her confusion about being a third wheel between Minami, Shiori, and Jirō. Sachi and Natsumi tells her to have confidence in herself and not lose hope, as she still has a chance with whoever it is that she wants to be with and they will support her decision. They invite Akari to go the local fireworks festival with some of their friends, including Minami, to encourage her.

An excited Akari asks Jirō to help her with the yukata for the festival. They debate which knot to use for her obi belt, but Akari wants to make sure that the knot is suitable to Minami's taste. Akari meets up with Sachi and Natsumi for the festival only to find out that Minami was unable to make it because of work. As the night wears on, she noticed Minami and Shiori in the festival grounds together. It turns out that Minami is on his way to work while Shiori is on her way grocery shopping and the shortest route to their respective destinations is through the festival grounds. Unaware over the real reason why Minami was at the festival, Akari believed that the two were on a date and is heartbroken.

Jirō is on the balcony preparing to watch the fireworks by himself when Akari calls him, sobbing. He rushes out to look for her only to find her already at their front door. He consoles her as she cries in guilt over the amount of effort her friends had put to get her and Minami together. The two later watch the fireworks together from their balcony and Akari asks Jirō to redo her obi to his preferred knot. They share an intimate embrace as each wonders about the future of their relationship.

## Plot

### Prelude

Jirō and Sadaharu are sitting on the school's rooftop playing video games and eating lunch. Sadaharu asks Jirō if something had happened between him and Akari considering that he is hiding on the rooftop every time there is a break as if he is avoiding her. Jirō claims nothing had happened, too embarrassed to explain that he slept on the couch with Akari next to him.

Meanwhile, Shiori is seen outside, carrying multiple trash-bags as she is assigned to trash duty by the school. Sachi and Natsumi notice her struggling to carry the bags and offer to assist her with the chore to which Shiori accepts. Sachi notes that even with their help, they are still shorthanded with six trash bags to carry between the three of them. Sachi then notices Jirō and Sadaharu passing by and crudely orders them to help out. While Sadaharu happily obliges, Jirō notices Shiori and the two appear to be nervous to see each other. Natsumi decides to pair with Sadaharu with her carrying one bag and him carrying two. Sachi decides to carry two trash bags and delegates the remaining heavy bag for Shiori and Jirō to carry together. Shiori desperately asks Sachi if she can pair with her instead to carry the heavy bag which demoralizes Jirō. Sachi realizes that pairing a boy and girl together would have been a mistake and accepts the change. Shiori thanks her but both Sachi and Natsumi notice that she appears to be nervous after she managed to avoid pairing with Jirō.

Later that day, Sachi and Natsumi are seen sitting on a bench with Akari as they happily eat snacks. The two girls wanted to ask a serious question to Akari but they interrupt each other. With neither girl willing to go first, they decide to play Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine who will go first. Sachi loses the game and asks Akari how she really feels about Jirō. When Akari hesitates to answer, Sachi notes that she is not even denying having any feelings for him. Natsumi also asks Akari about Minami, saying that she does not seem to be gushing about him as she used to before. Akari responds by saying that he and Shiori appear to be getting along, thus making her wonder if she is just getting his way. Sachi attempts to ease Akari's worries by saying that they are just doing it for the practical. Natsumi also tells Akari that while they don't oppose her to turning to Jirō for comfort, she should not get swept into the mood of the practical with Sachi adding that he would have acted like that with any girl that he would have been partnered with. As Akari sadly agrees, her friends comfort her by saying that the two boys are not the only choices she has.

Later that day, after Akari splits from the group, Sachi and Natsumi continue to worry about Akari. The two realize that something had happened between Jirō and Shiori but Akari seems to be unaware of Shiori's feelings for the boy. Sachi decides that something must happen to serve as a decisive moment for Akari to move forward with her conflicted feelings. The two then spot a poster about an upcoming fireworks festival and they both agree that this event will be the perfect opportunity to help Akari.

### Act 1

Back at the dorm, Jirō is helping Akari put on her yukata for the fireworks festival. As he struggles with tying the string around Akari's waist, she nags at him for being slow while also mentioning to him that her love is on the line as she wants Minami to see her in the traditional Japanese garment. When Jirō finishes tying the string, Akari asks him to pick out the style for how her obi should be tied. Although Jirō does choose a style, Akari finds his choice childish, saying that Minami would prefer a more mature style and overrules his choice with her own. This irritates Jirō, who questions on why he is doing this in the first place. Akari asks him if he is jealous to which he denies. Feeling a bit insulted at his response, Akari taunts Jirō by saying that she will be having the time of her life with Minami at the festival while he will be all alone, watching the fireworks from the balcony. She further antagonizes him by telling him not to call her if he is feeling lonely. As Jirō finishes tying the obi, the final step is to tuck in the ends. As Jirō places his hands between the obi and the yukata, he silently notes the thinness of Akari's garments, saying that he is feeling everything including the soft and warm feeling of Akari's body. Akari is shown to be flustered and breathing heavily as Jirō's hands graze her body. Jirō then asks Akari if the obi is too tight to which she says that it was not before thanking him.

Akari arrives at the festival where is she is greeted by Sachi and Natsumi, the latter who also in her yukata. The two inform Akari that Minami along with his friends will arrive soon and that they laid down the groundwork with everyone other than Minami so that she can be alone with him. Akari is embarrassed to learn that they told everyone about her feelings for Minami but her friends say that everyone knew already considering that she is always squeeing over him and that's why no guy attempted to make a move on her. As the two tell Akari that this is her chance to get closer to Minami, Akari quietly reflects over everyone's effort to help her be with Minami including Jirō, who helped put on her yukata. Although she feels uneasy over how her relationship with Jirō will be after she progresses with Minami, she nevertheless thanks her friends for their efforts and promises them that she will do her best.

Not long afterwards, Shū and his friends arrive at the festival but Minami is not with them. Sachi questions on his whereabouts to which the boys hastily apologize, with Shū saying the Minami was suddenly called in by his employers to work since the fireworks festival brought in a massive influx of customers. Shū further notes that Minami is too nice to refuse and that there was nothing they could do to stop him. Sachi reprimands the boys and rescinds her promise to introduce some girls to them since they failed their task. As Shū's friends beg for Sachi to reconsider, Shū takes the opportunity to apologize to Akari personally. Despite Akari telling him that it was alright, Shū nervously starts asking her if she wanted to look around the festival with him. Sachi pulls him away from Akari and tells Shū's friends to buy the girls some snacks so they can call it even. The boys, aside from Shū, happily agree to the deal and the latter is dragged away by his friends.

Natsumi and Sachi apologize to Akari for not being able to help her be with Minami but Akari remains assuring that they did enough for her already. Realizing that they forgot to ask the boys to get them some sweets, Natsumi and Sachi chase after the boys leaving Akari to explore the festival alone. As she walks around, she ponders on why she felt relieved that Minami did not show up despite all the effort she put into make herself more appealing to him. She begins to feel discouraged knowing that once she makes her choice, the relationship between her and Jirō will never be the same. Meanwhile, Shū is at a stand, playing game where he attempts to scoop a goldfish out of the water with a paper net. Although he fails, he continues to play because he wants to give a goldfish to Akari as a present.

Akari eventually convinces herself not to give up on her chase for Minami and decides that she will instead visit him at his workplace. She suddenly overhears some people in the crowd talk about a handsome boy being with a girl, presumably his girlfriend. Akari takes notice and is stunned to see that Minami is walking around in the festival with Shiori, despite being told that he could not make it due work. Disheartened, Akari is speechless while watching the two walk together out of her sight. At the same time, Shū decides to give up on catching the goldfish after breaking his net.

### Act 2

Natsumi and Sachi return to Akari with sweets that they managed to get from the boys. The two notice that Akari does not look to well to which she excuses by saying that she is not used to the yukata being so tight. Not knowing that Akari saw Minami just moments earlier, Natsumi and Sachi then tell Akari that it would be best that she went home since Minami isn't at the festival anyway and that they will have more opportunities for her to be with him. The inconsolable Akari can only sadly agree as her friends try to comfort her.

The next scene reveals that Minami was only escorting Shiori through the festival because it was the shortest route to her final destination, the supermarket, and his workplace was also along the route. Minami thanks Shiori for doing the shopping and supporting him before they part ways. As she sees Minami off, Shiori then wonders if Jirō is at the fireworks festival.

Back the training dorm, Jirō is shown standing on the balcony, thinking about what Akari is doing with Minami. He wonders what she meant when she said earlier that she and Minami will having a nice mood going along, questioning if they are hugging, kissing, or doing something even more intimate. He questions what will happen to his relationship with Akari when they do switch partners, believing that they may become nothing more than classmates.

Jirō receives a phone call and to his surprise, he sees that Akari is the one who is calling him. Wondering why she would call him, he answers the phone only to hear the sounds of Akari's weeping. Jirō asks Akari what's wrong but Akari could not finish her sentences as her crying becomes more apparent. Jirō starts to get worried and begins to heads out of the dorm with the intention of finding her. Jirō asks Akari where she is but she only continues to cry as she repeatedly apologizes to him and calls out his name before the line goes silent. Jirō desperately tries to call Akari again as he rushes out the front door but stops in his tracks when hears Akari's phone ringing. There he sees Akari. with her face buried in her arms, sitting in the hallway just outside of their dorm. As Akari continues to sob, she apologizes to Jirō for coming home after helping her with her yukata. She then starts to profusely apologize to all of her friends that tried to help her be with Minami. Jirō crouches down and calmly welcomes Akari back home while wiping away her tears. Overwhelmed with emotion, Akari submits herself to be held in her partner's arms.

Akari and Jirō are next seen standing on the balcony and watching the fireworks. Akari tells Jirō that Sachi and Natsumi complimented her yukata and that she is glad she wore it. Jirō asks why she hasn't decided to take it off yet considering how tight the obi is and the fact that she is home. Akari then asks him if the yukata looks good on her to which Jirō replies that the ribbon knot would look better on her. Noting his answer, Akari takes Jiro's hands and place them on her waist, telling him that to tie her obi to whichever style he wants. As Jirō, struggles to remember on how to tie the knot, Akari pulls out her phone to search for instructions. When Jirō tries to look at the screen over her shoulder, Akari gets startled and drops her phone. Luckily, Jirō manages to catch it but he inadvertently wraps his arms around Akari. Akari holds his arms in place and tells Jirō to call her by first name while in this position, saying that doing so will her revive her spirit. Jirō obliges and repeats it upon Akari's request.

The two are interrupted by a loud blast of fireworks and they both watch in awe at the beauty of the event. As Akari continues to look at the night sky filled with fireworks, she thanks Jirō for not asking her about what happened today. Jirō silently states that he didn't want to know what happened and that he was wishing for the best between her and Minami. However, he questions why he felt relieved that she came home after hearing her cry on the phone. Jirō then speaks to Akari, saying that supporting each other is what married couples should do to which the latter agrees. As Jirō ponders over the fact that this is the first and last time the two will be watching the fireworks together, the two continue watch the explosions while in each other's arms.

### Post-Credits

Sachi and Shiori show themselves off wearing their yukata to the approval of Shū's friends.

## Characters In Order Of Appearance

* Jirō Yakuin
* Sadaharu Kamo
* Shiori Sakurazaka
* Natsumi Ōhashi
* Sachi Takamiya
* Akari Watanabe
* Shū Terafune *(Debut)*
* Takeshita
* Jun Wajiro
* Minami Tenjin

## Anime & Manga Difference

* In the anime, Akari planned to visit Minami at his workplace after questioning why she felt relieved that he didn't show up at the festival. In the manga, Akari makes no such plans.