弓引け、白の世界で
mixed event. it's neat to actually see mafuyu in kyuudou club for once.
it goes over how shizuku and mafuyu joined the club in their first year, and we see shizuku's impressions of mafuyu back then: wow, he's perfect. he can do everything about this (drawing the bow, holding posture) perfectly even though it's his first time at it. he can even teach the other beginners like it's nothing. he seems so composed. like he really has his life together. if only i could be like that!
because we don't see this from mafuyu's perspective, it begs the question of what's going through his head here. he sounds really enthusiastic about kyuudou, like he cares a lot about the people in charge of the club and enjoys being patient with the other newcomers, but... that's obviously not real. he doesn't care about kyuudou itself; it never comes up as something he cares about in any other event, but rather as something he just. does. (for example, think back to when mizuki points out the photo of mafuyu winning a district-wide competition, and mafuyu doesn't seem to think he accomplished anything all that special. it was just something he did because others wanted him to.) it's not clear why, either: out of expectations from his mother? out of a need to busy himself? it's difficult to tell what exactly he's here for.
he extends a hand to shizuku when she's unsure of whether or not she should join the club and is kind to her when she struggles with the basics, but is he just doing that as part of the act to seem nice? it sure doesn't seem like he particularly cares about her when the mask is off. like, he never mentions her. he never mentions this period in which he extended great kindness toward her when she needed it the most. shizuku gets brief glimpses of mafuyu when he's alone and not masking--when he slips for a second after she wishes him luck in his studies to attend medical school and study to become a doctor, her saying that "someone as kind as you would be perfect for the job;" hiding out in the changing room after a competition, though she can't glean what's wrong then; when he's practicing by himself, muttering unintelligibly to himself as he hits every bullseye like a machine. (that last one is a really cool scene. very tense. so much about mafuyu's story is directed like a horror movie, but not in a way that feels ableist.)
so, back in the present, shizuku gets the idea in her head that there's something seriously weighing on mafuyu and she wants to help.
here it swaps to mafuyu's perspective. he gets home and his mother talks about how cold it's getting (mid-december). club practice must be difficult this time of year, isn't it? since it's outside, and all. i would hate for you to get a cold and not be able to attend cram school, or for that to impact your studies generally. speaking of, it's going to be exam season relatively soon... maybe you should just quit the club entirely so you can focus on studying for your entrance exams? well, mafuyu can't say no to that. nevertheless, his home environment is getting so oppressive that he's starting to seek out any excuse he can get to spend even a little bit of time out of the house. oh, my mother texted me to let me know that cram school is canceled due to the snow and she wants to pick me up via car... i have a lot of homework, so i should spend some extra time at school to work on it. not at home. no need to pick me up. if only the snow would never stop falling. if everything were to be buried by it, i could stay [away from home] forever.
shizuku finds him and invites him to spend time practicing with her; he doesn't (internally) care, so he accepts the offer, and she waxes fond over how much he helped her when she needed it most. "you saved me, then," she says. "i want to be able to support you now like what you did for me." she's really worried about him, and she's done a decent enough job of piecing together that there's something seriously troubling him. mafuyu, though he expresses thanks for her caring, stresses that he's fine. just stressed about exam season. no need to worry. this causes shizuku to apologize because, oh wow, she must have just gotten the wrong idea and jumped to conclusions. she frets over this internally, lamenting that she couldn't get through to him. she vows to be here to help him in the future, though. you know, if he needs it.
their practice together is interrupted by mafuyu's mother sending him a text. it's a simple one--"okay. don't stay out too late."--but that alone feels like a threat. this throws off mafuyu's shots; like shizuku thinks to herself, kyuudou is a mirror reflecting one's heart. right now, mafuyu feels like shit. he can't focus, there's too much tension in his shoulders. shizuku views this as an opportunity to step up and help. she walks him through the steps needed to relax and focus on the shot, just like he helped her when she needed it. loosen your grip on your worries, let them go, and focus on nothing but this one movement.
after they finish and start to head home, they have a sweet conversation about the snow, shizuku shows him how to make a snow bunny, she slips and falls and breaks her umbrella, and they walk together to the station sharing mafuyu's umbrella. recently, we've been seeing what mafuyu's real smiles look like. they're tiny, but his smile actually reaches his eyes. spending this time with shizuku was exactly the reprieve he needed today, and he looks forward to the next time they can practice together.
going in, i wasn't convinced that shizuku would be able to accomplish anything--she doesn't even know mafuyu. she's caught glimpses of him with the mask off, but she only *really* knows Asahina Mafuyu, the Good Girl Straight-A Student. everything about her perception of him has been built on lies and false impressions; as previously mentioned, that period in which he "saved" her when she needed it the most? he barely even remembered it happened. i highly doubt he felt anything about it at all. despite all of that, shizuku really does feel strongly about mafuyu, and she did break through the mask, just a little bit. and there's potential for her to keep doing it in the future, in her small way, just being there with him during club practice. (if he doesn't let his mother make him quit...) so, yeah. i really, really like this one. these two are very cute together.