Episode 16

"
**It's just a merry Christmas.**" is the fourth episode of the second season of the Komi-san wa Komyushou Desu anime series.

## Synopsis

It's Christmas Eve, and Komi has nothing planned. But then Najimi informs her they will have a Christmas party—at Komi's house.

## Summary

Sitting alone in her room, Komi looks at her calendar and sees that Christmas is coming. She has no plans for the occasion, making her bored. She then gets a phone call from Najimi, who tells her that a Christmas present exchange party will be held at her house that very evening, then promptly hangs up. Komi is not opposed to the sudden plans, but she then realizes that that means she has to get a present at the mall. While hastily trying to get clothes on for outside, Komi realizes that she doesn’t know how to choose a suitable present. Her younger brother Shousuke then walks by her room and she forces him to accompany her on her shopping trip to get his second opinion, much to his chagrin.

Numerous times, Shousuke attempts to leave, but Komi always drags him back. First, she becomes distracted looking over too many items and promptly turns down Shousuke’s suggestion of a bag of rice crackers. To satiate him, Komi offers to narrow it down to three items: candles, a vase, and a dancing Santa doll. All of these things are rejected by Shousuke. Eventually, Shousuke suggests a lovely pink sweater, and Komi chooses it, but when she asks him to purchase it out of anxiety for having to talk to the cashier, he abruptly tries to leave, but is stopped by Komi again and forced to buy it with her. While there, however, the cashier asks what Komi plans on doing with the gift, and when Komi struggles to answer, Shousuke says it for her. The narrator reveals that Shousuke can in fact speak fine, but is so extremely antisocial that he largely chooses not to unless it is necessary.

That evening the guests arrive, specifically her first thirteen friends. They wish her both a Merry Christmas - and also Happy Birthday, as her birthday is on Christmas Day itself. Komi, however, does not respond to this, prompting the group to think that they got the day mixed up. Komi eventually confirms it is her birthday on Christmas, relieving everyone. Najimi gives Komi a present they all chipped in to buy her - a giant plush black cat - and everyone enters the house. Tadano, however, lingers outside when he notices Komi hugging the plush and burying her face in it, and he realizes that her earlier reaction was because she didn’t know how to process the surprise, having never gotten one before. He encourages her to thank everyone later in order to do so, and she verbally agrees. Meanwhile, inside Komi's home, the popular kids, plus Agari, Yadano, and [[|Nakanaka Omoharu|Omoharu]] stand in the middle of the living area and contemplate where they'll sit, all competing to sit next to Komi; meanwhile, Najimi, Tadano, Onemine and Otori are not competing and take their seats. Though oblivious to the game, Komi herself has no idea where to sit because she’s never had that many friends over, which stalls everyone’s plan as it hinges entirely on Komi sitting somewhere. Eventually, Shuuko asks her to help pass out snacks; she agrees to get out of the situation and is joined by Tadano and Najimi. The competing students eventually come up with a truce: they will leave a space open in the kotatsu for Komi, and whoever wins a group game of rock-paper-scissors will sit next to the spot. Yamai wins and everyone takes their seats, accidentally leaving Tadano without a spot. However, as he goes to sit on the floor, Komi ignores the plan and chooses to sit next to Tadano, infuriating Yamai. Komi’s gesture surprises Tadano, but the romantic tension is immediately ruined by Najimi playfully sitting in Tadano’s lap, and Tadano then misinterprets Komi’s disappointed expression as her being flustered to sit in the designated seat.

Afterward, Yamai suggests the group play “Who Is the King?”, which she brought with her, and everyone agrees.

* In the first round, Yamai rigs the game so that she is King, then has Shinobino scope out Komi’s number. However, she ends up being torn between getting Komi to do something sexy and getting Komi’s contact info, and reluctantly chooses the latter despite already having it.
* In the second round. Najimi is King and demands the person dress up in a sexy Santa outfit they brought to the party. It turns out to be Komi, and everyone is enthralled.
* In the third round, Tadano is King and he asks to receive a shoulder massage. The person, Onemine, complies, but everyone finds this boring.
* In the fourth round, Otori is King, but she's unable to choose a command for ten minutes and it isn’t even revealed what she commanded.
* In the fifth round, Yadano is King. Chiarai, who is revealed to be a member of her fan club (indicating he likes her) wonders what kind of competition she will initiate. To avoid losing though, Yadano commands that everyone say they lost to her, but Chiarai is impressed anyways.
* In the sixth round, Agari is King and she blurts out that she wants someone to treat her like a dog, which confuses everyone since it is the exact opposite of the game’s objective.
* In the seventh round, Nakanaka is King. Having seen Yamai’s number 6 in a tree ornament reflection, she demands Yamai act like a dog. However, Yamai gloatingly reveals she had flipped her number, which is actually 9, and the real 6 was Tadano.
* In the eighth round, Shuuko barges in and becomes the King. She bluntly commands that #4 give #9 a kiss, which are Tadano and Shinobino respectively. As everyone jokingly cheers him on (except Komi who is jealous), Tadano compromises with Shinobino by kissing his cheek, only for Shinobino to enjoy it, to Tadano’s dismay.
* In the final round, Komi is King. She commands that everyone keep being her friend, and they all happily agree. Later in her room, Komi believes her command was embarrassing.

The episode then cuts back in time to show the events of the episode from Tadano’s perspective. Tadano reflects on asking Komi to hang out with him during their winter break. He then recalls that Komi's birthday is soon and then panics when he realizes it's the next day. He frantically calls Najimi, and thanks to their communication skills, Najimi is able to make party plans and invite all of Komi’s friends except Chocolat and Katai (they also couldn’t find Yamai, but that’s because Yamai was already looking for a birthday gift). Everyone rendezvouses at the mall, with Najimi finding Yamai. Najimi then declares a competition for who can get Komi the best gift, setting a steep limit of ¥5000. After exploring and having fun at the mall, everyone returns with their gift:

* Having thought about it for months, Yamai decides that the only suitable present for Komi is… herself, even wrapping herself up to prove the point. Tadano promptly expresses disgust.
* Nakanaka bought Komi a gift card, claiming Komi would love online currency. Yamai promptly scoffs at the idea.
* Onemine, Yadano, and Najimi all buy food items, respectively being pickled plums (as she can eat them over a long period of time), protein powder (as that would keep her in shape for their next competition), and 2kg of ice cream (claiming it is so big that she’ll “never go hungry again”). All of these are shot down by Tadano for being temporary and thus coming off as unthoughtful.
* Agari bought Komi a “how to train your dog” set, prompting Tadano to grumble over how Agari can’t keep her fetish in check.
* Otori bought her a set of oil timers, which she herself becomes entranced by, making Tadano concerned that Komi would also fall victim.
* Chiarai, Kishi, Shinobino, Sonada, and Onigashima all didn't know what to get for Komi. Yamai consoles them, but Tadano does not.
* Najimi goes again, this time presenting a Dancing Santa Doll identical to the one Komi was looking to get them. Everyone promptly shuts it down.

Everyone is soon mad at Tadano for shutting down all of their ideas, and demand he reveal what he bought. Tadano presents the large black cat plush, which everyone finds cute, but Najimi points out that it is ¥8000. Tadano reasons that Komi would feel overwhelmed if everyone bought her gifts, and also feel bad if she realized the expensive price. As such, he thought they could all chip in on the plush together. Everyone agrees.

Later, when they give Komi the plush, it is revealed that everyone along with Tadano did, in fact, notice Komi hugging the plush and hiding her face, but they misinterpret this as her not liking the surprise. Once the party is over, everyone but Tadano becomes downcast at her not liking the surprise. However, this changes when they receive a text from Komi (per Tadano’s earlier suggestion) thanking them all for the wonderful time they had together (even going as far as to apologize for her supposed negative reaction). This lifts everyone’s spirits, and as they walk home happily, Najimi suggests to Tadano that they have another party next year, and Tadano agrees.

## Characters

*In order of appearance. Bold denotes debuting characters.*

* Komi Shouko
* Najimi Osana
* Shousuke Komi
* Kishi Himeko
* Shinobino Mono
* Sonoda Taisei
* Onigashima Akako
* Ren Yamai
* Nene Onemine
* Otori Kaede
* Agari Himiko
* Omoharu Nakanaka
* Yadano Makeru
* Chiarai Shigeo
* Tadano Hitohito
* Komi Shuuko

## Adaptation Notes

**This episode adapts the following material:**

* Manga Volume 7
	+ Communication 86: Choosing a Present
	+ Communication 87: Merry Christmas
	+ Communication 88: Choosing One More Present
	+ Communication 97: Places to Sit
	+ Communication 98: The King