First Love Sommelier

**First Love Sommelier** (初恋ソムリエ, *Hatsukoi Somurie*?) is the eighth episode of the *Haruchika* Anime. It aired February 25, 2016.

## Synopsis

*Serizawa asks for help saving her aunt who is investigating her first love.*

## Summary

During lunch time, Haruta and and Chika were having lunch together in the music room with their friends. All of them decided to have individual practices before their club practice begin. Chika decided to practice on her own separated from the others. She was having a hard time until Serizawa who suddenly appeared gave her some pointers. She even offered to give her a one day lesson, however, she wanted Chika's help in exchange for it. Chika then take heAr to Haruta who was practicing with the others. She then told them about her aunt who is currently living in Australia. About a month ago when her aunt came to Japan for a visit, she hired a detective to find someone, her first love. The investigation only led to where he lived over a decade ago, his current whereabouts are unknown. However, the son of the detective that she hired sent her a postcard who calls himself as the "First Love Sommelier" who research on methods of appraising one's first love. The name of the so called "First Love Sommellier" is Asagiri Toru whom Haruta recognized as club president Katagiri's classmate and he also heard that Student Council President HInohara respected him as well. They then asked Katagiri about Asagiri and the First Love Research Group which he is the club president of. He advised them to stay away from him, but he told them that The First Love Research Group is in the first floor of the old school building which is where clubs with most of the schools' eccentric students are on.

They then arrived at the First Love Research Groups' clubroom where they found Serizawa's aunt, Serizawa Kyouko. Serizawa pleaded her to come home with her, however, Kyouko insisted on staying and even asked Asagiri to let the three of them to stay for the rest of the session. Asagiri then explain that first love is remembrance of the past and they can be a bit different than reality. Which is why he devised a method of reproducing the circumstances from that time in order to appraise one's first love properly. His method involves having the customer to smell an aroma that he and his club members will reproduce with the best of their abilities. Haruta then explained that his method is based on the "Proust Effect", a phenomenon of reliving one's memory using scent as the trigger. Asagiri then begin his preparations.

On the other hand, Serizawa was talking to Kyouko about how she never told her about her first love. Kyouko replied that there are things that she can talk about with a stranger but that she doesn't want the people that she cares about to know. Despite understanding what she meant, Haruta argued that she was being unfair to Serizawa who is her relative. Kyouko then decided to tell them the story of her first love, however, she's going to tell it a bit differently. She then tells the story in the form of a fairy tale. A long time ago, there was a 19 year old girl who ran away from her home in Tokyo and got lost in the forest where she met the Children of the Forest consisted of 8 people excluding the birds who leave after making commotion. Believed that she could escape from the forest someday, she helped make the onigiri along with Benjant. The girl befriended Benjant who gave her the name "Purastelo". Benjant was very knowledgeable and taught her many things which makes her to slowly falling in love with him. One day, Benjant and Purastelo were giving out onigiri with Purastelo gave hers to the birds while Benjant gave his to the Children of the Forest like usual. However, the girl took a bite out of the onigiri that Benjant made for the Children of the Forest after that. Looking at that, Benjant became angry and hit her. Benjant then made Purastelo to be an outcast from the Children of the Forest which is the end of the story.

After the end of the story, Asagiri finished his preparations. For Kyouko's first love appraisal, he reproduced the onigiri from her memory using the same water and salt from that time. After Kyouko took a bite out of the onigiri, she exclaimed that it tasted differently from the one that she remembered and she became sure of something. Kyouko then thanked Asagiri and left while Serizawa chased after her. Looking at her reactions, Haruta inferred that Kyouko has some other objective other than recalling memories of her first love. Without anything that can be used as a lead, Haruta and Chika decided to go home for the day. At home, Chika was taking a bath while checking out her music score until someone rang a bell to her house. It was Serizawa along with Haruta and Asagiri whom she dragged with ropes to come along with her by force. Serizawa told Chika that Benjant is currently at Hanamaki City in Iwate Prefecture and her aunt is heading there tomorrow, assuming that she is going to see him. And so, she decided to stop her from meeting him and wanted Haruta and Chika's help for it. That is why, Serizawa, Haruta, and Asagiri will be staying at Chika's house for the night, and then, the four of them will be taking the first train to Hanamaki tomorrow morning.

The next day, the four of them arrived at Hanamaki, but, they weren't able to find Kyouko. With that, Haruta then decided to practice with Chika since they have to miss their club practice today and it could also help Kyouko to notice them. Both of them play together with a few people were listening to them until Kyouko noticed them. Serizawa asked her aunt to leave with her since it's dangerous to see Benjant which can be anything but good. Kyouko felt sorry for Haruta and Chika for coming along with her niece. They told her that they came to protect her from Benjant. Kyouko replied that Benjant is formidable and they can't defeat him. However, Haruta then exclaims that she actually meant that Benjant has already passed away. Kyouko confirmed his suspicions and explained further that all of the Children of the Forest also died from the same illness, She then drove them to Benjant's grave while telling them that she already knew about Benjant's passing but she asked for further investigations which led her to know things that she's better off not knowing. She wanted to confirm the possibility of the other Children of the Forest died from the same illness. She was afraid that she might share the same fate as them.

And so, she consulted with Asagiri where they will compare the salted onigiri that he made with the one from her memory which she believes to be the cause of the illness. If it tasted the same, all of her worries would be gone, however, that's not the case. Benjant fed her and the birds a different salted onigiri. Haruta then elaborate that the salted onigiris that Benjant gave to the Children of the Forest were poisoned, while the ones that he gave to her and the birds were normal ones. The reason Benjant was angry that one time was to stop Purastelo from eating the poisoned onigiri. Haruta then deduced that his motive for poisoning the Children of the Forest was revenge which is implied by his name, Benjant. Benjant is actually derived from the word "Venganto" which is Esperanto for "Avenger". On the other hand, the name that he gave to Kyouko, "Pura Stelo" means "Pure Star" in Esperanto. Kyouko then apologize to Serizawa for making her worry all the time. Serizawa then immediately hug her while crying. Chika then wondered why did Benjant ate the poisoned onigiri himself. Haruta can only assumes that he wasn't able to forgive himself. After that, Kyouko gave Haruta, Chika, and Asagiri a ride to the station and took the train to their home since Haruta and Chika can't miss practice any longer. Chika was a bit upset because not only she missed practice but she is making a slow progress. But then, Serizawa also get on the same train as them and sat beside Chika, making excuse that she worries about being absent. Even so, Chika got cheered up and hugged Serizawa who is a bit annoyed by it.

## Characters

### In Order of Appearance

* Chika Homura
* Haruta Kamijou

## Trivia

* It has the same as the second light novel.